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THE  LIBRARY 

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LOS  ANGELES 

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COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


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BEING  PORTRAITS  AETER  ENGLUH 
MA5TER5.  N^ITI"!  DECORATION 
AND   blOGRAPMICAL  NOTE3 


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5Y  TMOMJON  BILLING 


bQ5TONTHE  JOJEPEI  KNIGHT 
COMPANY-  MDCCCXCVl 


Copyright,  1895,  by 
JOSEPH  KNIGHT  COMPANY 


DA 


PAGE 

Her  Grace  of  Marlborough 3 

Portrait  after  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller. 

"My  Good  Howard,"  —  Countess  of  Suffolk  ...   17 

Portrait  after  a  picture  in  the  collection  at  Strawberry 
Hill. 

Lady  Sarah  Lennox 29 

Portrait  after  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 

Her  Grace  of  Gloucester,  —  Countess  Waldegrave     43 
Portrait  after  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 

Her  Grace  of  Cumberland 57 

Portrait  after  Catharine  Read. 

"True  Blue  and  Mrs.  Crewe"       69 

Portrait  after  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


9625S0 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Her  Grace  of  Gordon 87 

Portrait  after  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 

The  Margravine  of  Anspach,  —  Lady  Craven  ...      99 
Portrait  after  George  Romney. 

"  Sweet  Lass  of  Richmond  Hill,"  -  Mrs.  Fitzherbert    i  13 
Portrait  after  Thomas  Cosway. 

The  Countess  of  Ashburnham 127 

Portrait  after  John  Hoppner. 


No  woman  of  modern  times  has  displayed  a 
career  of  such  emphasis  as  Sarah  Jennings,  — 
has  exhibited  the  incisive  personality  in  shaping 
plans,  the  virile  energy  in  pushing  her  projects, 
and  the  large  grasp  of  public  affairs,  the  fore- 
sight and  the  sanity.  With  all  her  beauty  and 
her  ability,  "  shrewd  "  is  the  epithet  that  thus  clung 
to  her  name.  "  Queen  Sarah,"  "  the  Viceroy," 
and  "  La  Belle  Jennings  "  are  the  epithets  used 
in  sketches  of  her  career,  but  references  in  his- 
tory to  her  character  are  most  often  made  to  the 
harsher,  the  unlovely,  the  contentious  phases  of 
her  composite  character.  Contentious  she  was, 
but  not  until  she  had  been  intrigued  against 
by  those  at  court  who  should  have  been  most 
grateful  to    her ;  uncharitable  she  was  when  the 


4  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

great  glory  wrought  for  his  country  by  her  hus- 
band was  made  of  no  account  by  those  who 
shared  most  in  the  glory ;  and  shrewish  she  be- 
came when  contemned  by  court,  when  persecuted 
by  opponents,  and  left  alone  by  relatives.  Not 
a  lovely  personality  was  hers,  but  a  powerful  one, 
—  one  that,  with  a  little  more  charity  of  heart,  a 
trifle  more  suavity  of  manner,  and  a  little  more 
maintenance  of  majesty  might  have  made  for 
the  betterment  of  Britain,  and  wrought  for  her- 
self a  sweet  and  fair  renown.  Her  career  was 
indeed  splendid.  Making  her  debut  in  the  Caro- 
lan  court,  a  vivacious  beauty  when  the  court  was 
famed  for  the  beauties  assembling  there,  she 
rose  to  shape  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Sarah,  the 
third  daughter  of  Richard  Jennings,  was  born 
at  Holywrell,  near  St.  Albans,  in  May,  1660.  Her 
father  was  a  country  gentleman  of  moderate 
income,  who  had  married  Frances  Thornhurst, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Giffard  Thornhurst 
of  Agnes  Court,  in  Kent.  Jennings  was  a  Prot- 
estant, but  a  zealous  Stuart  adherent.  To  the 
court,  two  of  his  daughters  were  sent.  The 
eldest,  Frances,  was  a  lovely  girl  of  blond  com- 


HER    GRACE    OF    MARLBOROUGH.  5 

plexion,  with  wit  and  vivacity  as  well  as  beauty. 
She  is  "  La  Belle  Jennings "  we  meet  in  the 
pages  of  Grammont.  In  that  iniquitous  envi- 
ronment she  preserved  her  respectability,  —  repuls- 
ing all  gallants,  even  the  Duke  of  York,  —  and 
became  Duchess  of  Tyrconnel.  Her  portrait 
by  Lely  graced  the  gallery  at  Whitehall  in  that 
splendid  collection  there  of  the  surpassing  beau- 
ties of  the  time.  The  second  sister,  Barbara,  did 
not  go  to  court,  but  married  Edward  Griffith. 
The  third  sister,  our  Sarah,  at  twelve  years  of 
age,  entered  the  service  of  Anne  Hyde,  Duchess 
of  York.  Besides  wishing  to  surround  herself 
with  youth  and  beauty,  the  Duchess  wished  a 
playmate  to  the  Princess  Anne,  afterwards  Queen. 
This  youthful  companionship  of  the  staid  and 
sedate  princess  with  the  lovely,  impetuous  girl 
continued  long  after  the  death  of  Anne  Hyde  — 
1671  — and  long  after  James  had  married  Mary 
Beatrix  d'Este.  The  new  Duchess  was  of  the 
same  age  as  the  young  maid  of  honor.  She, 
too,  was  a  beauty,  of  dark  hair  and  eyes,  a  con- 
trast to  Sarah,  to  whom  she  was  kind  and  affec- 
tionate.    In  her  service,  and  under  her  influence, 


6  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Sarah  developed  into  a  well-conducted  and  pru- 
dent woman,  a  woman  of  great  intelligence,  and 
her  lively  wit  sparkled  and  her  splendid  beauty 
shone.  Hers  was  a  beauty  that  lasted.  She  had 
soft,  deep  blue  eyes ;  a  delicate  rosy  mouth,  of 
much  sweetness  of  expression,  a  clear  skin  and 
blond  hair,  long  and  glossy, — glorious  in  its 
effect.  Her  figure  was  most  perfectly  propor- 
tioned. When  the  Duke  of  York  was  married 
to  Mary  of  Modena,  one  of  the  appointments 
to  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber  was  that  of 
the  son  of  Sir  Winston  Churchill,  of  Ashe,  in 
Dorsetshire,  Colonel  John  Churchill,  who  after 
being  page  to  the  Duke  had  attained,  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  a  commission  in  the  army.  He  was 
an  extremely  handsome  young  man,  with  clear- 
cut,  regular  features,  high  forehead,  and  thought- 
ful eyes,  with  a  figure  above  the  average ;  he  was 
called  "the  handsome  Englishman.''  His  manners 
were  as  fine  as  his  appearance.  His  sister  Ara- 
bella had  been  the  mistress  of  James  II.  during 
his  first  marriage,  and  Lady  Castlemaine  was 
his  cousin ;  and  it  was  to  the  latter  he  was 
indebted  for  means  to  appear  at  court,  and  for 


HER    GRACE    OF    MARLBOROUGH.  7 

a  powerful  influence  in  his  favor.  When  hand- 
some Colonel  Churchill  was  twenty-four  years 
of  age  he  was  attracted  by  the  pretty  Sarah 
Jennings.  They  were  engaged  for  three  years, 
a  period  of  alternation  in  the  intensity  of 
their  attachment.  They  were  married  in  pri- 
vacy at  last,  Mary  Beatrix  being  their  only 
confidante.  The  soldier's  duty  called  him  to 
the  continent.  From  Antwerp  he  wrote  to  his 
wife  a  letter  characteristic  of  the  many  he  sent 
throughout  his  career  when  he  had  to  be  away 
from  her.  "  My  soul's  soul,  I  do  with  all  my 
heart  and  soul  long  to  be  with  you,  you  being 
dearer  to  me  than  my  own  life." 

Preferment  soon  came  to  the  young  soldier. 
He  was  favored  of  his  royal  master.  He  had 
been  made  Master  of  the  Robes  before  James 
was  King,  and  after  was  created  Baron  Churchill 
of  Eyemouth  in  Scotland.  Lady  Churchill 
increased  in  favor  with  her  girl  playmate  Anne. 
When  the  latter,  a  placid,  respectable  lady  of 
commonplace  mind,  married  the  more  sedate 
Prince  George  of  Denmark,  Sarah  became  more 
necessary  for  Anne  as  an  antidote.     With  these 


8  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

two,  intimacy  ripened  into  familiarity,  and  familiar- 
ity at  last?  bred  contempt.  The  Princess  wished 
forms  of  address  put  aside ;  so  proposed  to  her 
lady  in  waiting  to  adopt  familiar  names.  The  lady 
became  to  the  Princess  "  Mrs.  Freeman,"  and  the 
Princess  to  her  lady  was  "  Morley."  For  long 
years  they  never  addressed  each  other  by  any 
other  title  than  these.  She  was  the  friend 
of  Anne  throughout  that  troublesome  period 
when  James  had  to  flee,  and  Anne's  sister  Mary, 
and  her  husband  from  Holland  became  joint 
monarchs.  Though  an  adherent  of  the  Stuarts, 
Churchill  wisely  withdrew  from  the  court  and 
service  of  James  long  before  his  flight.  In  the 
new  reign  the  Baron  was  at  once  raised  to  an 
earldom.  But  he  had  no  part  in  affairs.  The 
sisters  Mary  and  Anne  did  not  live  in  great 
amity,  and  as  the  Countess  of  Marlborough  was 
the  close  companion  of  the  heir  to  the  throne, 
and  not  the  Queen,  her  and  her  husband's  in- 
fluence was  small.  At  this  period  was  the 
greatest  glory  of  Countess  Sarah  as  a  leader  of 
society.  With  her  bright  intelligence,  sparkling 
wit,   and   great   good    sense,    she    attracted     to 


HER   GRACE    OF    MARLBOROUGH.  9 

Anne's  court  at  Whitehall  all  the  able  and  bril- 
liant men  of  the  day.  Some  came  from  interested 
motives,  in  being  friendly  with  the  adviser  of  the 
successor  to  the  throne,  others  came  for  her  own 
sake.;  and  chief  among  these  was  the  noble  Sidney 
Godolphin,  who  had  been  Lord  Treasurer  under 
James  II.  and  who  retained  the  office  under 
William.  He  was  an  admirer  of  the  shrewd 
sense  of  Sarah,  and  became  a  life-long  friend. 
But  all  through  her  career  this  brilliant  woman 
had  no  admirer  like  unto  her  husband.  Loyal  and 
loving  when  at  home  and  abroad,  his  affection 
for  her  is  a  great  tribute  to  her  worth ;  and  that 
affection  was  reciprocal.  Never  did  he  leave  her 
but  he  sent  most  tender  messages  of  love.  He 
who  knew  her  best  complained  not  of  that  violent 
temper  or  hasty  speech.  When  he  was  away  in  the 
midst  of  his  battles  he  wrote  to  her:  "  Put  your 
trust  in  God,  and  be  assured  that  I  think  I  can't 
be  unhappy  as  long  as  you  are  kind ;"  and  again, 
when  he  was  a  man  of  fifty-two,  and  his  wife  a 
decade  younger,  he  wrote,  on  leaving  her  for 
a  time :  "  It  is  impossible  to  express  with  what  a 
heavy  heart  I  parted  from  you  when  I  was  by  the 


IO  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

water's  side.  I  could  have  given  my  life  to  have 
come  back,  though  I  knew  my  own  weakness  so 
much  that  I  durst  not,  for  I  know  I  should  have 
exposed  myself  to  the  company.  I  did  for  a 
great  while  with  a  perspective  glass  look  out 
upon  the  cliffs,  in  hopes  I  might  have  had  one 
sight  of  you." 

Lady  Marlborough  was  of  a  most  intense 
nature.  She  liked  heartily,  and  she  disliked  just 
as  heartily.  Queen  Mary  was  one  of  those  she 
disliked.  The  royal  sisters  disagreed  much,  and 
these  disagreements  were  attributed  by  the  Queen 
to  the  influence  of  Lady  Sarah  on  Anne.  Her 
Majesty  determined  to  have  her  dismissed,  and 
commanded  Anne  to  have  her  leave  Whitehall. 
She  left,  but  the  Princess  went  with  her.  Marl- 
borough had  been  expelled  the  court  by  the  King 
for  carrying  on  a  correspondence  with  his  late 
monarch.  The  Queen  was  attacked  with  the 
small-pox  and  died,  and  after  this  the  King  was 
reconciled  to  his  sister-in-law.  At  her  residence 
in  Berkeley  House  she  again  held  court,  and 
with  her  Lady  Sarah  the  dictatress  was  as  im- 
portant as  ever.     Marlborough  somewhat  recov- 


HER   GRACE    OF    MARLBOROUGH.  II 

ered  the  confidence  of  the  court,  and  was  made 
governor  to  Anne's  son,  the  young  Duke  of 
Gloucester.  When  William  III.  died,  in  1702, 
Lady  Marlborough  was  forty-three  years  of  age, 
and  now  was  the  period  of  her  greatest  power,  — 
the  period  preceding  her  downfall.  Her  husband 
had  full  command  of  the  army,  and  gained  such 
glory  on  the  continent  as  raised  the  prestige  of 
England  and  gained  a  lasting  renown  for  the 
General.  Honors  were  showered  on  him,  in 
which  his  consort  shared.  He  was  made  a  Prince 
of  the  Roman  Empire  abroad,  and  a  Duke  at 
home.  A  ducal  seat  at  Woodstock  was  given 
him  by  the  nation,  and  Blenheim  was  built.  His 
consort,  during  his  career  abroad,  looked  after 
his  interests  at  court.  He  was  not  without  ene- 
mies who  belittled  his  conquests.  What  great 
man  is  not  attacked  and  aspersed  by  those  who 
have  not  the  largeness  of  view  to  comprehend  the 
motives  and  principles  of  the  great  ?  "  Queen 
Sarah,"  termed  now  u  the  Viceroy  "  by  reason  of 
her  influence  with  the  Queen  Anne,  confounded 
his  enemies.  But  she,  who  had  foiled  many  a 
minister,  fell  a  victim  to  the  intrigue  of  a  humble 


12  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

relative,  Abigail  Hill,  whom  she  had  introduced 
at  court,  and  who  was  bedchamber  woman  to 
the  Queen.  As  honors  were  heaped  upon  the 
Duchess,  she  became  haughty  and  dictatorial. 
The  taciturn  Queen  came  at  last  to  resent  her 
dictation  in  politics.  The  question  was  in  regard 
to  Church  and  State,  Anne  being  a  strict,  even 
a  narrow  church-woman,  and  the  Duchess  being 
wise  enough  to  see  the  trend  of  thought  was 
against  intolerant  laws.  The  political  differ- 
ence soon  became  a  personal  difference,  and 
"  Mrs.  Freeman  "  and  "  Morley  "  were  friends  no 
more,  for  Abigail  Hill  had  treacherously  intrigued 
against  the  Duchess,  being  guilty  of  backbiting 
and  deceit.  From  the  time  of  the  disfavor  of 
the  Marlboroughs,  Queen  Anne's  prestige  abroad 
waned  and  she  had  no  prosperity  at  home.  In 
1722,  the  Duke  died.  His  widow  was  sought  in 
marriage  by  Lord  Coningsby  and  by  the  Duke  of 
Somerset;  but  she  replied,  "  The  widow  of  Marl- 
borough shall  never  become  the  wife  of  any  other 
man." 

The  family  of  the   Duchess  was  five  daughters 
and   one  son,  Lord  Blandford,   who  died  in  his 


HER   GRACE    OF    MARLBOROUGH.  1 3 

youth.  The  daughters  were  all  beautiful  like 
their  mother,  and,  like  her,  intelligent  and  virtu- 
ous. The  eldest,  Lady  Henrietta  Churchill,  in 
her  eighteenth  year  was  married  to  Lord  Rial- 
ton,  eldest  son  of  her  mother's  friend  Godolphin. 
She  afterwards  became  Duchess  of  Marlborough 
in  her  own  right.  The  second  daughter,  Lady 
Anne,  was  married  to  Lord  Sunderland,  and 
through  her  descendant  the  titles  and  estates 
of  the  Churchills  have  been  enjoyed  by  the 
Spencers.  This  union  was  not  a  felicitous  one. 
The  third  daughter,  Lady  Elizabeth,  married 
the  Earl  of  Bridge  water.  The  fourth,  Lady  Mary, 
became  Duchess  of  Montagu.  The  latter  was 
of  a  hasty  temper  and  disagreed  sadly  with  her 
mother.  The  later  life  of  the  Duchess  was  not 
placid.  Her  acerbity  of  temper  increased  with 
age,  and  brought  her  into  many  a  turmoil.  Many 
are  instances  given  of  her  imprudent  and  caustic 
speech,  and  many  the  anecdotes  told  of  her  keen 
wit,  and  her  uncharitable  conduct.  She  wrote 
the  defence  of  her  course  with  the  Queen  ;  she 
was  attacked  severely  by  Pope  and  by  Swift,  and 
was  defended  by  Fielding.     Indeed,  such  a  strong 


14  DAMES    OF   HIGH    DEGREE. 

personality  as  hers  must  needs  stir  up  strife. 
She  made  many  enemies,  and  her  enemies  did 
not  fail  to  magnify  her  failings.  She  died  at 
eighty-four  years  of  age,  and  was  buried  beside 
her  husband  at  Blenheim. 

Lord  Bolingbroke  was  once  spoken  to  of 
Marlborough's  penuriousness.  He  stopped  the 
comment  by  saying,  "  He  was  so  very  great  a 
man  that  I  forgot  he  had  that  vice."  We  would 
that  the  chroniclers  had  treated  his  Duchess  in 
the  same  spirit.  She  had  several  blemishes  of 
character,  but  she  was  a  very  great  woman. 


In  Thackeray's  ever  interesting  and  keen  com- 
ments on  the  Courts  of  the  Georges,  he  says, 
"  Of  all  the  Court  of  George  and  Caroline  I  find 
no  one  but  Lady  Suffolk  with  whom  it  seems 
pleasant  and  kindly  to  hold  converse.  Even  the 
misogynist  Croker,  who  edited  her  letters,  loves 
her,  and  has  that  regard  for  her  with  which  her 
sweet  graciousness  seems  to  have  inspired  almost 
all  men  and  some  women  who  came  near  her." 
Strange  lane/uao-e  this.  In  searching:  for  the 
most  honest,  the  most  sane  talker,  and  the  least 
vainglorious,  least  lacquered  of  the  world,  among 
the  women  of  that  age,  we  come  upon  one  who 
was  chronicled  for  a  century  as  mistress  of  the 
Kins;.     The  edition  of  her  letters  combats  this 


1 8  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

established  repute  of  her  position.  But  beyond 
the  general  esteem  of  her  associates  and  the  adu- 
lation  of  her  admirers,  he  adduces  no  evidence  to 
controvert  the  grave  asseverations  of  history. 

In  a  letter  to  her,  Mr.  Hobart  says,  "  You 
have  hardly  yet  ever  received  a  letter  but  sil- 
ver-tongued praise  sweetened  every  line.  Pope 
and  Swift  for  you  laid  by  satire,  and  joined  for 
once  in  panegyric."  How  grateful  we  are  they 
did  preserve  to  us  in  these  panegyrics  the  sweet 
character  of  one  whose  position  at  Court  would 
lead  to  cruel  comment  and  adverse  estimate ! 

"  I  know  a  thing  that 's  most  uncommon, 
(Envy,  be  silent  and  attend  !  ) 
I  know  a  reasonable  woman, 

Handsome  and  witty,  yet  a  friend. 

"  Not  warp'd  by  passion,  awed  by  rumor, 

Not  grave  through  pride,  or  gay  through  folly, — 
An  equal  mixture  of  good-humor, 
And  sensible  soft  melancholy. 

"  '  Has  she  no  faults  then  (Envy  says),  sir? ' 
Yes,  she  has  one,  I  must  aver ; 
When  all  the  world  conspires  to  praise  her, 
The  woman 's  deaf,  and  does  not  hear !  " 


44  MY    GOOD    HOWARD.  1 9 

This  is  the  compliment  paid  by  little  Mr.  Pope, 
44  To  a  Certain  Lady  at  Court."  Swift's  char- 
acter sketch  is  in  prose,  and  is  prefaced  to  the 
collection  of  Lady  Suffolk's  letters.  After  pass- 
ing by  the  subject  of  her  wit  and  beauty  as  being 
freely  conceded  and  also  being  apart  from  her 
character,  the  Dean  sketches  very  lightly  her 
career,  and  then  proceeds  to  a  recital  of  her  char- 
acteristics. Supreme  tact  and  diplomacy,  mod- 
esty and  kindliness,  are  her  attributes.  44  If  she 
had  never  seen  a  court,  it  is  possible  she  might 
have  been  a  friend,"  and  44  She  is  upon  the  whole 
an  excellent  companion  for  men  of  the  best  ac- 
complishments who  have  nothing  to  ask,"  are  the 
comments  of  the  satiric  churchman;  and  he  con- 
cludes with  the  opinion  that  "  her  talents  as  a 
courtier  will  spread,  enlarge,  and  multiply  to  such 
a  degree  that  her  private  virtues,  for  want  of 
room  and  time  to  operate,  must  be  folded  and 
laid  up  clean,  like  clothes  in  a  chest,  never  to  be 
put  on  till  satiety  or  some  reverse  of  fortune 
shall  dispose  her  to  retirement."  Beyond  the 
compliments  of  Pope  and  Swift  in  adulation 
and  incense  is  the  poem  of  Lord  Peterborough 
addressed  to  Mrs.  Howard  :  — 


20  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

"  I  said  to  my  heart,  between  sleeping  and  waking, 
Thou  wild  thing,  that  always  art  leaping  or  aching, 
What  black,  brown,  or  fair,  in  what  clime,  in  what  nation, 
By  turns  has  not  taught  thee  a  pit-a-patation?  " 

The  heart  is  not  affected  by  Celia,  by  Sappho, 
or  Prudentia,  but  by  another  finer  than  these. 

"  But  Chloe,  so  lively,  so  easy,  so  fair, 
Her  wit  so  genteel,  without  art,  without  care  ; 
When  she  comes  in  my  way  —  the  motion,  the  pain, 
The  leapings,  the  achings,  return  all  again. 

"  O  wonderful  creature  !  a  woman  of  reason  ! 
Never  grave  out  of  pride,  never  gay  out  of  season ; 
When  so  easy  to  guess  who  this  angel  should  be, 
Would  one  think  Mrs.  Howard  ne'er  dreamt  it  was  she  ?  " 

This  sweet  lady,  who  drew  men  unto  her,  was 
Henrietta,  eldest  daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Hobart, 
fourth  Baronet  of  his  family.  She  was  born  about 
1688,  and  married,  in  her  twentieth  year,  the 
Honorable  Charles  Howard,  third  son  of  Henry, 
fifth  Earl  of  Suffolk,  who  in  1731  became,  by 
the  deaths  of  his  nephews  and  two  elder  brothers, 
ninth  Earl  of  Suffolk.  The  union  was  not  feli- 
citous    from    the     first.       Howard    was    without 


"MY    GOOD    HOWARD."  21 

income ;  his  wife's  was  but  small.  His  tastes 
and  temperament  were  reprehensible.  About 
the  close  of  Queen  Anne's  reign,  the  couple 
went  to  Hanover  with  the  view  of  conciliating 
the  favor  of  their  future  sovereign.  The  lady 
gained  much  favor  with  the  Electress  Sophia,  and 
on  her  son's  accession  to  the  throne  was  ap- 
pointed woman  of  the  bedchamber  to  the  Princess 
of  Wales.  It  was  long  after  this,  however,  that 
the  Prince  became  at  all  enamoured  of  her.  Mrs. 
Howard  found  it  expedient  to  give  a  dinner  to 
the  Hanoverian  ministers,  but  in  order  to  do  so 
made  the  sacrifice  of  selling  her  beautiful  head  of 
hair  to  procure  the  wherewithal.  On  the  trans- 
ference of  the  Court  to  England,  the  apartment 
of  the  bedchamber  woman  of  the  Princess  be- 
came the  rendezvous  of  all  the  beauties,  gallants, 
and  wits  of  the  day.  Here  Molly  Lepel  was 
gracious  to  all,  but  loving  to  one,  Lord  Hervey, 
especial  friend  of  the  Princess;  here  Mary 
Bellenden,  the  vivacious,  and  Margaret  her  sister, 
added  gayety  to  the  court.  Among  all  the  ladies 
Mrs.  Howard  was  the  favorite.  She  was  a  good 
friend  to  all,  and  kept  her  friends  long  after  her 


22  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Court  days.  Many  of  them  became  her  corre- 
spondents; and  in  their  letters  we  find  a  loyalty, 
a  happy  spirit  of  comradeship,  and  withal  a  sin- 
cerity which  was  rare  in  those  days.  Mary 
Bellenden,  become  Mrs.  Campbell,  wrote  to  her 
in  1722:  "I  wish  you  might  leave  that  life  of 
hurry,  and  be  able  to  enjoy  those  that  love  you, 
and  be  a  little  at  rest ;  and  I  really  do  believe  you 
have  as  many  people  that  love  and  value  you  as 
ever  came  to  one  woman's  share."  This  is  the 
burden  of  all  the  letters  sent  her,  —  good  wishes 
for  her  welfare,  and  expressions  of  affection.  The 
Prince  of  Wales,  accustomed  to  having  his  wishes 
gratified,  desired  for  himself  her  who  was  the 
admired  of  all  the  court.  Not  that  he  was  of  an 
amorous  disposition,  did  he  desire  her,  so  much 
as  to  disprove  the  rumors  that  he  was  ruled  by 
his  wife,  and  from  a  silly  idea  that  gallantry  was 
becoming.  While  Mrs.  Howard  submitted  to 
the  position  of  favorite  to  the  Prince,  this  did  not 
alter  her  pleasant  relations  with  the  Princess. 
The  lady's  husband  of  course  became  acquainted 
with  the  intrigue,  and  helped  to  publish  it  by 
vociferously   demanding   her   before    the   guards 


"  MY    GOOD    HOWARD.  23 

and  congregated  auditors  in  the  quadrangle  of 
St.  James'  Palace.  He  had  a  letter  delivered  to 
her  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  But  all 
this  was  in  the  nature  of  blackmail,  for  he  was 
quieted  with  a  pension  of  twelve  hundred  a  year. 
Never  was  royal  mistress  less  avaricious  or  sel- 
fish than  she.  In  her  career  she  was  not  able 
to  aggrandize  more  than  the  cost  of  a  small  villa 
at  Twickenham,  known  as  Marble  Hill,  the  cost 
of  which  was  but  ten  or  twelve  thousand  pounds. 
Gay  writes  of  the  building  of  it:  — 

"  My  house  was  only  built  for  show, 
My  lady's  empty  pockets  know  ; 
And  now  she  will  not  have  a  shilling 
To  raise  the  stairs  or  build  the  ceiling. 
'T  is  come  to  what  I  always  thought, 
My  dame  is  hardly  worth  a  groat." 

The  place  was  comfortable  and  tasteful  rather 
than  magnificent.  Her  friends  had  aided  its 
accomplishing.  Lords  Burlington  and  Pem- 
broke designed  the  house ;  Lord  Bathurst  and 
Mr.  Pope  laid  out  the  gardens ;  and  Gay,  Swift, 
and  Arbuthnot  had  constituted  themselves  super- 
intendents of  the  household.     Here  were  spent 


24  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

her  happiest  hours.  In  1731,  Mr.  Howard  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Earldom  of  Suffolk,  and  as  a 
countess  could  not  hold  the  subordinate  posi- 
tion of  bedchamber  woman,  the  Queen  trans- 
ferred her  to  the  office  of  Mistress  of  the  Robes. 
This  gave  my  lady  less  exacting  duties  and  more 
leisure  to  enjoy  her  villa  on  the  Thames.  Her 
husband  died  in  1733,  which  increased  her  in- 
come, so  in  the  following  year  she  retired  from 
Court.  She  lived  not  long  in  widowhood,  but 
married,  in  1735,  the  Hon.  George  Berkeley,  the 
youngest  son  of  the  second  Earl  of  Berkeley. 
They  lived  a  happy  life,  as  appears  from  their 
correspondence  and  as  testified  to  by  Lady  Suf- 
folk after  her  husband's  death  in  1746.  Lady 
Suffolk  had  one  child  by  her  first  husband,  a 
son,  who  became  tenth  Earl,  and  died  without 
issue  in  1745  at  the  age  of  thirty-five.  By  her 
second  husband  she  had  no  children,  but  adopted 
and  educated  her  niece,  Lady  Dorothy  Hobart, 
and  her  grand-niece,  Lady  Dorothy's  daughter 
by  Colonel  Hotham.  From  the  time  of  her 
retirement  from  Court  until  her  death  in  1767, 
she   lived   a   life    of    tranquillity,  the    object    of 


"MY    GOOD    HOWARD.  25 

affection  from  many  loyal  friends.  Her  neighbor 
at  Twickenham,  Mr.  Walpole,  used  to  spend  his 
autumn  evenings  in  her  gardens,  enjoying  her 
Court  reminiscences  and  unmalicious  gossip.  Her 
memory  was  wonderful,  and  all  her  comment  sen- 
sible. Her  hearing  had  always  been  defective ; 
but  even  this  did  not  detract  from  the  charm  of 
reconnoitring  her  memories  of  early  days  in 
high  circles,  and  listening  to  their  interesting 
recital.  Her  appearance,  as  described  by  Wal- 
pole, is  what  one  would  imagine  to  be  consonant 
with  her  character:  "She  was  of  a  just  height, 
well  made,  extremely  fair,  with  the  finest  light 
brown  hair,  and  features  regular  and  agreeable, 
rather  than  beautiful.  She  was  remarkably  gen- 
teel, and  always  dressed  with  taste  and  simpli- 
city. Her  personal  charms  had  suffered  but  little 
diminution  up  to  the  period  of  her  death,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  seventy-nine.  Her  mental  quali- 
fications were  by  no  means  shining ;  her  eyes 
and  countenance  showed  her  character,  which 
was  grave  and  mild.  She  preserved  uncommon 
respect  to  the  end  of  her  life,  and,  from  the  pro- 
priety and  decency  of  her  behavior,  was  always 


26  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

treated  as  if  her  virtue  had  never  been  ques- 
tioned, —  her  friends  even  affecting  to  suppose 
that  her  connection  with  the  King  had  been 
confined  to  pure  friendship."  The  Queen,  though 
professing  great  fondness  for  Mrs.  Howard,  took 
a  malicious  delight  in  employing  her  in  menial 
duties,  and  subjecting  her  to  mortifications. 
"  My  good  Howard  "  is  the  phrase  she  became 
accustomed  to  use  when  addressing  her,  and  this 
is  the  phrase  we  like  to  recall  her  by.  The 
frailty,  weaknesses,  and  ill  in  her  character  have 
nigh  vanished  as  her  career  is  empurpled  by  time, 
and  that  character's  tone  and  tint  is  best  sketched 
by  the  simple  phrase,  "  My  good  Howard." 


In  the  collection  of  Carolan  Court  beauties 
painted  by  Lely,  the  most  interesting  portrait, 
next  to  that  of  the  graceful  Countess  of  Gram- 
mont,  is  of  Louise  de  Keroualle,  the  patrician 
mistress  brought  from  France  by  the  Merry  Mon- 
arch. The  lovely  olive  flesh-tones  of  this  were 
a  characteristic  of  her  descendants  for  many  a 
generation.  Her  grandson,  Charles  Lennox, 
second  Duke  of  Richmond,  born  1701,  only  son 
of  the  first  Duke,  who  during  the  lifetime  of  his 
father  was  Earl  of  March,  on  the  death  of  his 
grandmother  Louise  succeeded  to  the  Dukedom 
of  Aubigny  in  France.  When  but  eighteen, 
he  was  married,  to  cancel  a  gambling  debt,  to 
Lady  Sarah,    eldest   daughter   of   William,    first 


30  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Earl  of  Cadogan.  The  youth  objected  to  hav- 
ing his  matrimony  arranged  in  this  manner,  and 
especially  to  such  a  dowdy.  He  left  her  and 
England  for  several  years.  On  returning  to 
London,  he  went  to  the  theatre  and  there  saw 
a  lady  whose  splendid  beauty  attracted  him.  He 
asked  her  name.  It  was  Lady  March.  The 
deserted  wife  now  became  the  object  of  the 
adoration  of  the  Earl.  By  her  he  became  the 
father  of  twelve  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
Lady  Georgina  Caroline  Lennox,  born  in  1723. 
In  the  days  of  her  great-grandfather  the  King, 
a  prudent  faithful  adherent  was  Sir  Stephen  Fox. 
He  had  been  a  chorister  boy  in  Salisbury  Cathe- 
dral, but  was  ambitious  and  able.  He  rose  fast, 
but  one  of  the  stages  of  his  career  was  that  of 
footman.  He  followed  the  fortunes  of  his  royal 
patron,  and  was  the  first  to  announce  the  death 
of  Cromwell  to  Charles,  as  he  was  playing  tennis 
with  Archduke  Leopold  and  Don  John.  At 
the  Restoration  he  became  Clerk  of  the  Green 
Cloth,  afterwards  Paymaster  -  General  of  the 
Forces  and  a  Lord  of  the  Treasury.  His 
second  wife  was  Christian,  daughter  of  the  Rev- 


LADY    SARAH    LENNOX.  3 1 

erend  Charles  Hope,  whom  he  married  when  in 
his  seventy-seventh  year.  By  her  he  became 
the  father  of  Stephen,  created  Earl  of  Ilchester, 
and  of  Henry,  born  in  1705,  who  was  somewhat 
of  a  man  about  town  in  his  youthful  days,  but 
entered  Parliament  in  1735,  and  in  1743,  like 
his  father,  became  a  Lord  of  the  Treasury. 
Now,  Henry,  son  of  the  footman,  came  courting 
Lady  Caroline,  great-granddaughter  of  the  King, 
but  the  haughty  Duke,  her  father,  would  have 
none  of  it.  He  looked  higher ;  and  once  when 
a  suitor  whom  he  favored  called,  the  rebellious 
Caroline  cut  off  her  eyebrows  so  her  appearance 
would  not  permit  her  being  seen.  In  1744,  the 
lady  flew  to  her  lover,  and  was  married  at  the 
house  of  his  friend  and  schoolfellow  at  Eton, 
Sir  Charles  Hanbury  Williams,  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  a  friend  of  the  Richmonds,  giving 
her  away.  Sir  Charles  addressed  some  lines  to 
Fox  shortly  afterwards :  — 

"  When  Winnington  and  Fox  with  flow  of  soul, 
With  sense  and  wit,  drove  round  the  bowl, 
Our  hearts  we  opened  and  our  converse  free. 
But  now  they  both  are  lost,  quite  lost  to  me : 


32  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

One  to  a  mistress  gives  up  all  his  life, 
And  one  from  me  flies  wisely  to  his  wife ; 
This  proves  the  highest  joys  that  men  can  prove, 
The  joys  of  truth  and  of  alternate  love." 

The  match  made  a  tumult  in  town,  and  even 
affected  politics.  It  took  four  years  for  forgive- 
ness to  come  to  the  couple.  Fox  was  able  and  of 
agreeable  manners.  Chesterfield  said  he  had  no 
fixed  principles  of  religion  or  morality.  He 
was  a  power  in  the  Government.  Again,  like 
unto  his  father,  he  became  Paymaster-General 
of  the  Forces,  in  which  position  he  was  ac- 
cused of  having  much  money  stick  to  his 
fingers,  and  on  his  death  his  executors  had  to 
refund  ,£200,000.  Lady  Caroline  had  a  face 
firm  and  strong  in  its  features  and  with  much 
character.  She  was  painted  by  Hogarth  as 
Cydria  in  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  performed 
before  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  and  Prin- 
cesses Mary  and  Louisa,  and  is  in  the  Hol- 
land House  collection.  She  was  also  painted  by 
Ramsay  and  Reynolds,  and  in  miniature  by  Col- 
lins. Lady  Caroline  acted  as  a  mother  to  her 
brothers  and  sisters.     Lady  Emily  was,  like  her- 


LADY    SARAH    LENNOX.  33 

self,  a  beauty,  and  married  James,  twentieth  Earl 
of  Kildare,  in  1746;  but  the  flower  of  the  family- 
was  the  seventh  and  youngest  daughter  and 
eleventh  child,  Lady  Sarah,  born  in  1745.  We 
first  hear  of  her  taking  part  in  private  theatricals, 
in  1 76 1,  —  a  favorite  form  of  diversion  among 
the  patricians  in  those  days.  Walpole's  account 
of  it  is  very  interesting :  "  There  was  a  play  at 
Holland  House  acted  by  children ;  not  all  chil- 
dren, for  Lady  Sarah  Lennox  and  Lady  Susan 
Strangways  played  the  women.  It  was  Jane 
Shore ;  the  two  girls  were  delightful,  and  acted 
with  so  much  nature  and  simplicity  that  they 
appeared  the  very  things  they  represented.  Lady 
Sarah  was  more  beautiful  than  you  can  conceive ; 
and  her  very  awkwardness  gave  an  air  of  truth 
to  the  shame  of  the  part,  and  the  antiquity  of  the 
time,  which  was  kept  up  by  her  dress,  taken  out 
of  Montfaucon.  Lady  Susan  was  dressed  from 
Jane  Seymour ;  and  all  the  parts  were  clothed  in 
ancient  habits  and  with  the  most  minute  pro- 
priety. I  was  infinitely  more  struck  with  the 
last  scene  between  the  two  women  than  ever  I 
was  when  I  have  seen  it  on  the  stage.     When 

3 


34  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Lady  Sarah  was  in  white,  with  her  hair  about 
her  ears  and  on  the  ground,  no  Magdalen  by 
Correggio  was  half  so  lovely  and  expressive.  You 
would  have  been  charmed,  too,  with  seeing  Mr. 
Fox's  little  boy,  Henry  Edward,  of  six  years  old, 
who  is  beautiful,  and  acted  the  Bishop  of  Ely, 
dressed  in  lawn  sleeves  and  with  a  square  cap." 

At  this  time  George  III.  had  been  but  a  few 
months  a  king.  He  was  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
three,  and  had  made  a  good  impression  on  the 
country. 

Lady  Hervey  writes :  "  I  have  the  best  opinion 
imaginable  of  him  ;  not  from  anything  he  does 
or  says  just  now,  but  because  I  have  a  moral  cer- 
tainty that  he  was  in  the  nursery  the  honestest, 
true,  and  good-natured  child  that  ever  lived,  and 
you  know  my  old  maxim  that  qualities  never 
change."  In  person  he  was  tall  and  dignified, 
with  a  good-natured,  florid  countenance.  There 
was  decency  and  an  effort  at  dignity  in  his  char- 
acter. Rumor  had  it  that  in  1754  he  had  become 
enamoured  of  a  young  Quakeress,  Hannah  Light- 
foot,  and  had  been  married  to  her  in  Curzan 
St.    Chapel,    Mayfair,  —  his    confidante    in     the 


LADY    SARAH    LENNOX.  35 

intrigue  being  the  notorious  Miss  Chudleigh,  his 
mother's  maid  of  honor,  afterwards  Duchess  of 
Kingston.  This  may  have  been  an  escapade  of 
his  youth,  but  it  ill  accords  with  what  we  know 
of  his  later,  well-regulated,  phlegmatic,  formal  life. 
St.  James'  Palace  is  anigh  to  Holland  House, 
and  the  young  monarch  often  saw  and  was 
smitten  with  his  lovely  subject.  On  the  fourth 
of  June,  1 76 1,  was  the  first  anniversary  of 
the  King's  birthday  since  his  accession,  and 
the  occasion  was  observed  with  magnificence. 
At  St.  James',  Lady  Sarah  was  observed  of 
all.  She  exceeded  the  splendor  of  Haroun  Al- 
raschid  and  the  "  Arabian  Nights."  The  King's 
confidante  of  his  passion  was  Lady  Susan  Strang- 
ways.  He  asked  her  if  she  did  not  know  some- 
body who  would  grace  a  wedding  ceremony  in 
the  properest  manner.  At  this  she  was  much 
embarrassed,  thinking  he  meant  herself;  but  he 
went  on  and  said,  "  I  mean  your  friend,  Lady 
Sarah  Lennox.  Tell  her  I  say  so ;  and  let  me 
have  her  answer  by  next  Drawing-Room  day." 
Lady  Sarah  used  to  meet  the  King  in  his  rides 
early  in  the  morning,  driving  a  little  chaise  with 


36  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Lady  Susan;  and  once  it  is  said  that,  wanting 
to  speak  to  him,  she  went  dressed  like  a  servant- 
maid,  and  stood  amid  the  crowd  in  the  guard- 
room to  say  a  few  words  to  him  as  he  passed 
by.  Lord  Bute  was  under  orders  to  interrupt 
tete-a-tetes ;  while  Lady  Sarah's  family,  especially 
her  ambitious  brother-in-law,  Fox,  favored  the 
meetings.  In  front  of  Holland  House,  on  the 
fine  summer  mornings,  in  the  broad  meadows  of 
that  interesting  old  mansion,  Lady  Sarah,  attired 
in  a  half-fancy  costume  resembling  a  peasant's, 
was  to  be  seen  gracefully  taking  her  share  in  the 
labors  of  the  haymakers.  She  was  said  to  have 
been  at  the  time  in  love  with  Lord  Newbottle, 
afterwards  Marquis  of  Lothian.  It  was  now 
that  Reynolds  painted  the  picture  of  which  we 
give  a  fragment,  —  one  of  the  most  noted  pic- 
tures of  the  century  and  remaining  in  the 
Holland  House  collection.  As  Thackeray  puts 
it,  the  dove  that  Lady  Susan  was  trying  to 
hand  to  Lady  Sarah  flew  away.  The  King  had 
her  assist  his  German  bride,  Charlotte  of  Meck- 
lenburg, as  train-bearer,  instead  of  being  chief 
personage  at  the  ceremony.     She  found  herself 


LADY    SARAH    LENNOX.  $7 

deprived  of  a  crown  and  of  her  lover,  Lord  New- 
bottle,  together,  for  he  complained  as  much  of 
her  as  she  did  of  the  King.  Gone  was  her 
chance  of  the  great  position  of  queen,  and  gone 
the  gladness,  the  glamour,  and  the  glory  of  her 
dream.  Of  the  ten  unmarried  daughters  of 
dukes  and  earls  who  were  bridesmaids,  their  heads 
crowned  with  diamonds,  and  in  robes  of  white 
and  silver,  Lady  Sarah  was  the  chief  angel. 
Walpole's  comment  is  :  "  Lady  Caroline  Russell 
is  extremely  handsome ;  Lady  Elizabeth  Keppel 
very  pretty,  but  with  neither  features  nor  air. 
Nothing  ever  looked  so  charming  as  Lady  Sarah ; 
she  has  all  the  glow  of  beauty  peculiar  to  her 
family, —  has  better  white  and  red  than  if  she 
were  made  of  pearls  and  rubies."  Many  years 
after  the  King  at  the  theatre  saw  Mrs.  Pope, 
who  resembled  Lady  Sarah,  and  was  heard  to 
murmur,  "  She  is  like  my  Lady  Sarah  still."  A 
few  months  after  the  coronation  she  whom  the 
King  failed  to  marry  refused  Lord  Errol, —  whose 
father,  Kilmarnoch,  was  beheaded  for  his  adher- 
ence to  the  Pretender ;  but  the  following  year, 
in  June,  she  was  married  to  Sir  Thomas  Charles 


38  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Bunbury,  Bart,  who  was  known  as  the  beau-ideal 
of  an  English  sportsman,  was  the  patron  and 
father  of  the  turf,  also  well  known  as  a  Whig 
politician,  and  was  said  to  look  like  Sheridan. 
He  represented  the  County  of  Suffolk  for  forty- 
five  years.  The  union  was  not  a  happy  one. 
They  were  divorced  by  Act  of  Parliament  in 
1776.  Bunbury  died  in  182 1,  in  his  eighty-first 
year. 

Lady  Caroline  Fox  —  who  had  been  created,  in 
1762,  Baroness  Holland  in  her  own  right,  her 
husband  being  made  a  peer  as  Baron  Holland  of 
Foxley  the  following  year  —  died  of  a  cancer  in 
1774,  but  twenty-three  days  after  the  death  of 
her  husband.  She  was  thought  much  of  by 
Walpole,  who  speaks  well  of  her,  who  never  said 
a  good  word  of  the  Foxes  when  he  could  help  it. 
The  second  Baron  Holland  died  six  months  later 
than  his  parents.  His  wife,  Lady  Mary  Fitz- 
patrick,  who  was  of  a  most  amiable  and  femi- 
nine softness  of  disposition,  a  beautiful  character, 
died  at  the  age  of  thirty-two. 

In  1764,  Lady  Susannah  Sarah  Fox-Strang- 
ways,  then  twenty-three  years  of  age  —  the  eldest 


LADY    SARAH    LENNOX.  39 

daughter  of  Lord  Ilchester  —  married,  unknown 
to  her  family,  at  St.  Paul's  Church,  Covent 
Garden,  the  actor,  William  O'Brien.  She  is 
described  as  a  very  pleasing  girl,  though  not 
handsome,  having  the  finest  complexion,  most 
beautiful  hair,  and  prettiest  person  that  was  ever 
seen,  a  pretty  mouth  and  remarkably  fine  teeth, 
and  excess  of  bloom  in  her  cheeks.  Her  lover 
carried  on  his  courting  by  counterfeiting  Lady 
Sarah  Lennox's  handwriting.  Walpole's  com- 
ment on  the  match  was,  "  Marrying  O'Brien  was 
the  completion  of  disgrace,  —  even  a  footman 
were  preferable ;  the  publicity  of  the  hero's  pro- 
fession perpetuates  the  mortification."  The 
couple  went  to  New  York  on  their  way  to  Ohio, 
where  they  had  a  grant  of  forty  thousand  acres. 
They  soon  drifted  back  to  England,  where  her 
relatives  secured  a  government  position  for  her 
husband.  She  died  at  Stinsford  in  Dorset  in 
1827. 

Reynolds  painted  Lady  Sarah  Bunbury  half 
kneeling  before  a  tripod  altar  with  a  group  of 
Graces  above.  In  1779,  we  find  a  note  in  a  letter, 
"  Lady  Sarah  still  looks  prettier  and  fresher  than 


40  DAMES   OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

an  angel  of  Correggio;  "  and  in  1781  the  Prince 
of  Wales  said  he  did  not  wonder  at  his  father's 
admiring  her,  and  was  persuaded  she  had  not 
been  more  beautiful  then.  In  1782,  she  married 
George  Napier,  sixth  son  of  Francis,  fifth  Lord 
Napier,  and  by  him  became  the  mother  of  five 
sons  known  as  "  the  fighting  Napiers,"  one  of 
whom  was  General  Sir  Charles  James  Napier, 
the  conqueror  of  Scinde,  and  the  third  was  Sir 
William,  historian  of  the  Peninsular  WTar.  She 
died  in  1826,  aged  eighty-two.  During  her  last 
years  she  was  completely  blind,  at  which  time 
her  early  lover,  the  King,  was  blind  also,  and 
sorrowful  with  many  burdens.  Her  influence  on 
her  time  was  not  powerful,  nor  her  personality 
pervasive ;  nevertheless  her  story  appeals  to  stu- 
dents of  the  period,  and  she  will  always  be  referred 
to  as  "  lovely  Lady  Sarah." 


•J-      t      f 

HER  GRACE 

or  GLOUCESTER 

f      t      t 


The  unconventional  marriage  of  Maria  Walpole 
to  William  Henry,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  was  not 
unique  in  its  manner  in  the  Walpole  family. 
Old  Sir  Robert  had  a  daughter  by  Miss  Sherret, 
a  French  refugee  stay-maker,  whom  he  after- 
wards married,  and  who  died  in  1 783,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-seven.  His  second  son,  Sir  Edward, 
had  four  children  by  Dorothy  Clement  of  Dur- 
ham, a  milliner's  apprentice.  A  son,  Edward, 
died  in  1771.  The  three  daughters  became  ex- 
tremely beautiful  women ;  and  of  these  three 
Graces,  Maria,  the  second,  was  the  supreme 
beauty.  The  eldest,  Laura,  married  Dr.  Fred- 
erick Keppel,  Bishop  of  Exeter  and  Dean  of 
Windsor,  fourth  son  of    William    Anne,  second 


44  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Earl  of  Albemarle.  The  youngest,  Charlotte, 
whose  mother  died  at  her  birth,  became  the  wife 
of  Lionel  Tolmache,  Lord  Huntingtower,  Earl 
of  Dysart,  in  1 77 1.  She  was  a  sweet  character. 
Indeed,  her  uncle  Horace  said  that  a  more  fault- 
less being  existed  not  within  his  knowledge ;  and 
the  worldly  gossiper  was  moved  to  write  a  most 
tender  epitaph,  recalling  her  virtues  and  graces. 
James,  the  second  Earl  of  Waldegrave,  was  a 
worthy  man,  of  high  standing  at  Court.  He  was 
firm  in  the  King's  favor,  and  easy  in  circum- 
stances. He  had  been  selected  as  tutor  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (George  III.).  He  is  quoted  as 
saying  at  that  time,  "  If  I  dared,  I  would  make 
this  excuse  to  the  King,  '  Sir,  I  am  too  young  to 
govern  and  too  old  to  be  governed.'  "  A  man  of 
stricter  honor  and  more  reasonable  sense  could 
not  have  been  selected  for  the  employment.  It 
was  said  of  him  that  he  did  just  what  was  wise, 
and  nothing  more.  In  1759,  his  wisdom  led  him 
to  marry  Maria  Walpole.  Horace  claimed  the 
credit  of  the  match.  We  have  his  own  claim  to 
it.  "  I  am  marrying  my  niece  Maria  to  Lord 
Waldegrave.     What  say  you?     A  month  ago  I 


HER    GRACE    OF    GLOUCESTER.  45 

was  told  he  liked  her  —  does  he?  I  jumbled 
them  together,  and  he  has  already  proposed. 
For  character  and  credit  he  is  the  first  match 
in  England ;  for  beauty  I  think  she  is.  .  .  .  My 
brother  has  luckily  been  tractable,  and  left  the 
whole  management  to  me.  My  family  don't  lose 
any  rank  or  advantage  when  they  let  me  dispose 
of  them,  —  a  Knight  of  the  Garter  for  my  niece." 
Of  that  beauty  we  cull  many  accounts  from  the 
pages  of  the  admiring  Horace.  She  had  a 
warm  complexion  tending  to  brown,  fine  eyes, 
brown  hair,  fine  teeth,  and  a  person  that  was 
perfect.  Her  only  defect  was  that  her  face  was 
rather  round.  And  with  all  her  charms  of  feat- 
ure she  had  the  greater  ones  of  manner,  of 
wit,  of  vivacity,  and  withal  perfect  modesty,  —  al- 
beit she  was  ambitious.  Of  the  wedding  of 
Maria  to  the  Earl,  we  have  sketches  by  Horace. 
A  sensible  wedding  it  was,  without  form  or  in- 
decency. The  bride  was  in  a  white-and-silver 
gown,  with  a  hat  very  much  pulled  over  her  face ; 
what  one  could  see  of  it  being  handsomer  than 
ever,  —  a  cold  maiden  blush  giving  her  the 
sweetest    delicacy    in    the    world.     Her   married 


46  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

happiness  was  not  for  long.  In  April,  1763,  the 
good  Earl  died  of  the  small-pox.  Besides  the 
memory  of  an  unblemished  character  and  three 
lovely  children,  he  left  but  little  to  his  widow. 
The  earldom  went  to  his  brother,  who  was  kept 
out  of  it  for  several  months  by  the  widow  on  the 
possibility  of  an  heir  by  her  appearing. 

In  her  widowhood,  Maria  was  the  most  capti- 
vating and  commanding  beauty  of  the  day,  with  all 
the  bloom  of  freshness  and  youth.  She  suffered 
not  for  lack  of  suitors,  of  whom  a  most  persistent 
was  the  Duke  of  Portland,  the  best  match  in 
England. 

In  1764,  William  Henry,  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
the  third  son  of  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  was 
nineteen  years  of  age.  He  was,  like  his  brothers, 
illy  educated,  and  was  least  tenderly  treated  by 
his  mother,  whom  he  reproached  for  her  un- 
kind treatment,  but  he  was  fond  of  his  brother 
the  King.  At  this  time  he  became  enamoured 
of  Waldegrave's  widow.  Her  uncle  Horace, 
with  the  approbation  of  her  father,  advised  Maria 
to  write  her  royal  lover,  pointing  out  the  indif- 
ferent repute  which  his  attentions  were  calculated 
to  entail  on   her,  and  renouncing  his  friendship 


HER    GRACE    OF    GLOUCESTER.  47 

on  the  double  plea  that  she  was  too  considerable 
a  person  to  become  his  mistress,  and  of  too  little 
consideration  to  become  his  wife.  The  loyal 
lover  would  not  give  her  up.  He  married  her. 
Yes!  On  the  sixth  of  September,  1766,  at  her 
own  house,  by  her  own  chaplain.  But  the 
couple  kept  it  quiet.     At  a  masquerade  in   1770, 

"  Waldegrave's  fair  widow  looked  buxom  as  ever ; 
Full  many  a  lover,  who  longed  to  accost  her, 
Was  kept  at  a  distance  by  Humphry  of  Gloster." 

They  seemed  desirous  of  proclaiming  the  nature 
of  their  connection  to  the  world,  by  the  Duke 
appearing  in  the  character  of  Edward  IV.  and 
our  Lady  as  Elizabeth  Woodville,  —  the  latter 
being  habited  in  gray  and  pearls,  with  a  black 
veil. 

In  May,  1772,  she  thought  well  to  advise  her 
father  of  her  marriage.  Sir  Edward  was  not 
fond  of  high  society,  and  was  without  parade,  so 
was  not  jubilant  at  having  a  prince  for  a  son-in- 
law.  In  the  course  of  the  year  her  brother- 
in-law,  the  King,  was  advised,  and  he  was 
exceeding  wrathful.     Her  royalty  was  established 


48  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

shortly  before  the  birth  of  the  Princess  Sophia 
Matilda,  in  May,  1773.  The  King  deputed  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
and  the  Bishop  of  London,  to  examine  proofs 
of  the  marriage.  They  reported  on  its  regularity. 
The  King  set  his  face  against  the  favorite 
brother,  and  would  not  see  his  Duchess,  nor  make 
provision  for  his  children.  Of  her  at  this  time 
Uncle  Horace  writes:  "Her  prudence  has  been 
perfect  Her  character  is  invulnerable,  and  it 
gives  me  more  pleasure  she  has  preserved  the 
honor  she  had,  than  that  she  has  obtained  this 
great  honor,  which  does  not  dazzle  me  at  all." 
And  again,  "  Her  spirits,  like  her  uncle's,  do  not 
sink  under  difficulties ;  her  beauty,  I  think  they 
augment."  In  June,  1774,  Princess  Caroline  was 
born,  who  died  in  March,  1775.  These  were  days 
of  darkness  and  difficulties.  The  couple  travelled 
on  the  Continent,  staying  a  considerable  time  in 
Florence  and  Rome.  The  Duke  was  extremely 
ill  and  worried.  The  estrangement  of  the  King 
pained  him  exceedingly.  In  1775,  Horace 
writes :  "  His  heart  is  broken,  and  yet  his  firm- 
ness and  coolness  are  amazing.     I  pity  her  be- 


HER    GRACE    OF   GLOUCESTER.  49 

yond  measure  ;  and  it  is  not  a  time  to  blame  her 
having  accepted  an  honor  which  so  few  women 
could  have  resisted,  and  scarce  one  ever  has 
resisted."  Blame  her  ?  No,  indeed !  not  if  she 
loved  him  and  not  his  coronet,  and  she  appears 
to  have  done  so  most  truly.  The  Duke's  marry- 
ing her  is  one  of  the  few,  bright,  noble,  natural 
spots  in  the  picture  of  that  whole  ignominious 
family  of  Teuton-English  chuckle-heads  to  which 
he  belonged. 

At  Venice  nothing  ever  exceeded  the  distinc- 
tion paid  to  them,  though  they  were  both  warm 
and  hurt  at  the  indignation  they  received  from 
the  English. 

In  Rome,  in  1776,  the  Pope  was  a  perfect 
knight-errant  in  courtesy  and  gallantry  to  them, 
and  enjoined  all  attention  from  his  college  and 
nobility. 

In  January,  1776,  a  son  had  been  born,  and 
yet  the  King  made  no  sign. 

The  following  year  the  Duchess  writes  touch- 
ingly  to  her  father :  "  A  broken  heart  cannot 
stand  an  Italian  climate  in  the  summer.  I  find 
the  great   comfort   of   religion    now.     Fred,  my 


50  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

little  boy,  has  grown  thin.  I  cannot  bear  to  part 
with  him,  although  he  has  little  chance  of  ever 
having  anything  to  live  upon  but  a  commission 
in  the  Austrian  service."  The  Duke  went  to 
Switzerland,  and  was  extremely  ill  there,  and 
distressed  because  of  continued  neglect  and 
repulse. 

"  There  was  once  a  King  of  the  Hanover  race 
Who  had  more  sense  within  than  appeared  on  his  face, 
And  yet  though  his  headpiece  was  not  his  best  part, 
It  was  excellent  good  if  compared  with  his  heart." 

At  last,  word  came  from  the  King,  but,  oh,  so 
guarded  a  letter  of  endearment !  But  even  this 
was  some  balm  for  a  loyal  brother.  In  June, 
1780,  the  King  and  his  royal  brother  of  Glouces- 
ter and  Cumberland  were  finally  reconciled. 
From  this  on,  the  days  of  the  Duchess  were  more 
fraught  with  comfort.  She  had  been  a  good 
mother  to  her  Waldegrave  daughters,  and  now 
they  had  bloomed  into  beauties  fair  as  herself. 

The  eldest,  Lady  Elizabeth  Laura,  married  in 
May,  1782,  her  cousin  George,  Viscount  Chewton, 
afterwards  fourth  Earl  Waldegrave,  by  whom  she 


HER    GRACE    OF    GLOUCESTER.  5 1 

was  mother  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  Earls.  She 
died  at  Strawberry  Hill  in  1816.  Uncle  Horace 
wrote  her  a  certificate  of  character,  as  he  did  also 
of  her  sisters. 

Of  Elizabeth,  in  1771,  he  says,  "A  person  who 
has  rank,  beauty,  the  best  education,  and  most 
charming  character,  with  uncommon  sense  and 
prudence."  Of  the  second  daughter,  Charlotte 
Marian,  "  I  do  not  know  so  perfect  a  young 
woman ;  she  has  all  her  father's  sense  and  temper 
and  the  utmost  discretion."  This  discretion  did 
not  restrain  her  from  indulging  in  the  uncon- 
ventional form  of  marriage  ;  it  ran  in  the  blood. 
In  1784,  she  eloped  with  George  Henry  Fitzroy, 
Earl  of  Euston,  who  became  Duke  of  Grafton  in 
181 1.  "  It  is  not  the  style  of  our  Court  to  have 
long  negotiations ;  we  don't  fatigue  the  town 
with  exhibiting  the  betrothed  for  six  months 
together  in  public  places,"  is  the  comment  of 
Horace.  "  If  sense  and  sweetness  of  temper  can 
constitute  the  chief  felicity  of  a  husband,  Lord 
Euston  will  not  be  unhappy."  "  The  Duke  of 
Grafton  has  sent  word  to  Lord  Euston  that  he 
will  continue   his  allowance.      That   he    will    be 


52  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

satisfied  with  Lady  Euston,  if  she  ever  has  the 
happiness  of  being  known  to  him,  I  am  per- 
suaded." The  Countess  died  in  1808.  The  third 
daughter,  Anne  Horatia,  "  a  beautiful  girl  like 
her  mother,  though  not  of  so  sublime  a  style  of 
beauty,"  was  unfortunate  enough  to  lose  her 
betrothed,  the  Duke  of  Ancaster,  who  died ; 
but  she  married  in  1786,  Lord  Hugh  Conway 
Seymour,  M.  P.,  fifth  son  of  Francis,  first  Mar- 
quis of  Hertford,  K.  G.,  and  died  in  1801.  Sir 
Joshua's  portrait-piece  of  these  ladies  has  made 
them  forever  famous. 

The  Duke  of  Gloucester  died  in  1805.  He 
was  buried  in  military  uniform,  and  on  his  finger 
a  ring,  an  early  love-gift  from  his  Princess.  He 
had  been  true  to  her  all  his  life.  Almost 
unique  among  the  royalties  of  those  days !  His 
common  understanding  had  nothing  shining,  yet 
he  never  said  a  weak  thing.  He  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  a  good,  amiable,  and  honest  man,  with 
intellect  not  as  strong  as  his  virtues.  He  mar- 
ried, in  18 16,  Princess  Mary,  youngest  daughter 
of  George  III.,  who  died  in  1857.  He  was  char- 
itable, yet  careful  of  his  money.  He  died  in 
1834. 


HER    GRACE    OF   GLOUCESTER.  53 

The  Duchess  of  Gloucester  did  not  regret  her 
marriage  to  royalty.  We  find  no  evidence  that 
she  made  other  than  a  good  wife,  except  in  the 
satires  of  Duke  Walcott,  who  speaks  of  — 

**  A  certain  high  and  mighty  Duchess 
Hugging  her  husband  in  her  catlike  clutches, 
Longing  to  shine  a  first-rate  star  at  court, 
For  satire's  pen  a  subject  of  rare  sport, 
Longing  to  purify  a  luckless  brood 
Deep-stained  and  smelling  of  its  native  mud." 

This  is  surely  unjust,  though  from  the  circum- 
stances of  her  marriage  she  laid  herself  open  to 
comment.  Sir  Joshua  painted  her  often  ;  indeed, 
it  was  said  that  the  artist  himself  had  a  tender 
sentiment  toward  her,  for  Leslie  tells  that  in  a  side- 
pocket  of  Sir  Joshua's  pocket-book  for  1 759  was 
found  a  delicate  golden-brown  tress  in  a  paper 
inscribed  "  Lady  Waldegrave."  A  full-length 
picture  of  her  in  her  robes  as  a  peeress  was  the 
first  painted.  A  well-known  one  of  her  in  a 
gauze  turban  was  exhibited  in  1761.  This  went 
to  the  Strawberry  Hill  collection.  In  1762,  the 
picture  we  give  was  exhibited  under  the  title 
44  Dido   embracing    Cupid,"  the  child   being  the 


54  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE 

infantine  Lady  Laura.  In  1764,  a  picture  of  the 
then  Dowager  Countess  of  Waldegrave  was 
shown.  Of  this  Leslie  writes :  "  The  painting  is 
indeed  worthy  of  its  lovely  original,  whom  Sir 
Joshua  seems  to  have  painted  with  peculiar  en- 
joyment. The  fair  widow  leans  her  head  upon 
her  hand,  and  looks  upwards,  as  if  for  consola- 
tion and  strength ;  her  arm  is  supported  on  her 
knee  ;  she  is  in  mourning,  with  a  black  veil  over 
her  head." 


ANNE. 

DUCME35°r 

CUMBERLAND 

READ 
4 


^ 


*V? 


The  Luttrells  were  an  Irish  family  whose 
reputation  for  dignity  of  character  was  not  high. 
They  had  been  attached  to  and  had  deserted 
James  II.  Through  several  generations  they 
had  acquired  repute  for  contention,  eccentricity, 
and  general  arrogance  and  oddity  of  conduct, 
though  they  were  far  from  lacking  in  ability. 
Simon  Luttrell,  Lord  Irenham,  who  was  raised 
to  the  peerage  as  Earl  of  Carhampton,  about 
1770,  had  a  family  of  five,  —  three  sons  and  two 
daughters,  Anne  and  Elizabeth.  Col.  Henry 
Louis  Luttrell,  who  succeeded  to  the  earldom 
in  1787,  acted  a  conspicuous  part  in  politics, 
when  he,  on  behalf  of  the  King's  party,  opposed 
the  radical  Wilkes  at  Brentford  in  the  notable 
contest  for  Middlesex.     He  was  a  man  of  great 


58  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

activity  and  aggressiveness,  —  with  high  spirit, 
though  socially  agreeable  and  tactful.  At  one 
time  he  quarrelled  with,  and  was  challenged  by, 
his  father,  but  refused  to  fight,  —  because  his 
father  was  no  gentleman.  At  another  time 
of  family  bickering,  he  shut  his  father  and 
mother  out  of  his  mansion  in  Ireland.  Col. 
Temple  Luttrell  was  another  son,  who  had  some 
repute  as  a  writer  of  verses. 

Lady  Anne  was  a  great  beauty,  whose  amor- 
ous eyes  raised  her  to  a  higher  rank  than  was 
attained  by  the  coronet-hunting  Gunnings  even. 
She  married,  first,  Mr.  Christopher  Horton  of 
Derbyshire,  and  in  June,  1769,  a  son  was  born  to 
her.  Shortly  afterwards,  she  lost  this  only  child 
and  her  husband  within  a  fortnight.  A  com- 
plete inventory  of  her  charms  has  been  preserved 
to  us,  and  clever  she  was  in  the  use  of  them. 
Coquettish,  artful  as  Cleopatra,  coolly  calculating, 
and  completely  mistress  of  her  passions  and 
projects,  the  main  coloring  of  the  picture  of  her 
character  is  high.  Considerable  Irish  wit,  and  an 
ability  to  dance  divinely,  were  accessories  in  the 
composition.     Of  her  appearance,  prettiness  was 


HER    GRACE    OF    CUMBERLAND.  59 

the  keynote  rather  than  positive  beauty.  Her 
figure  was  well-formed  and  her  carriage  graceful, 
yet  her  chief  glory  was  in  her  eyes.  Large, 
lustrous,  and  lovely  they  were,  and  she  knew  it. 

The  sons  of  that  unfilial,  inconsequent  heir  to 
the  throne,  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  seem  to 
have  let  their  attachments  drift  towards  widows. 
The  second  son,  Edward,  Duke  of  York,  had  his 
affection  for  the  eccentric  daughter  of  the  second 
Duke  of  Argyll,  Lady  Mary  Coke.  This  lady's 
husband  had  been  an  unprincipled  character,  dis- 
sipated, and  a  gambler,  and  Lady  Mary  left  him 
several  years  before  his  death.  She  travelled 
much  on  the  Continent,  having  a  weakness  al- 
ways for  the  company  of  royalties,  became  inti- 
mate with  the  Duke  of  York,  and  on  his  death 
at  Monaco,  in  1767,  went  into  mourning  for  six 
months  as  his  widow.  She  is  best  remembered 
by  the  lines  on  her  by  Lady  Temple  :  — 

"  She  sometimes  laughs,  but  never  loud  ; 
She  's  handsome  too,  but  somewhat  proud ; 
At  court  she  bears  away  the  bell ; 
She  dresses  fine  and  figures  well ; 
With  decency  she  's  gay  and  airy ; 
Who  can  this  be  but  I,ady  Mary?  " 


60  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

The  third  son  of  Frederick  was  William  Henry, 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  and  he,  too,  fell  a  victim 
to  a  widow,  the  lovely  Lady  Waldegrave.  The 
fourth  son,  Henry  Frederick,  born  October,  1745, 
more  inconsequent  even  than  his  father,  except 
for  the  evil  he  could  do,  made  an  early  record  for 
himself,  not  for  attachments  to  widows,  but  to  mar- 
ried women.  His  first  public  appearance  was  in 
a  position  which  no  prince  of  the  blood  had  ever 
before  occupied,  —  that  of  co-respondent  in  a 
divorce  court.  Henrietta,  daughter  of  Henry 
Vernon,  was  married  to  Lord  Grosvenor  in  1764, 
—  a  romantic  marriage.  Being  caught  in  a  rain- 
storm while  she  was  walking  in  Kensington  Gar- 
dens, Lord  Grosvenor,  struck  with  her  beauty, 
offered  her,  and  a  young  lady  who  was  with  her, 
seats  in  his  carriage.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and 
his  Lordship  accompanied  them  home.  An  inti- 
macy ensued,  ending  in  the  marriage,  and  she 
became  the  mother  of  Robert,  second  Earl  of 
Grosvenor.  About  1770,  the  Duke  of  Cumber- 
land, characterized  by  Walpole  as  "  a  pert,  chat- 
tering, dissipated,  and  frivolous  youth,"  began 
to  idolize  her.     At  one  time  he  followed  her  to 


HER   GRACE    OF    CUMBERLAND.  6 1 

Eaton  Hall  near  Chester,  where  he  frequently 
met  her  in  the  fields.  In  "  The  Gentleman's 
Magazine  "  of  that  time  will  be  found  complete 
accounts  of  the  intrigues  brought  out  by  the 
testimony.  His  devices  and  subterfuges  were 
laughable ;  and  the  exposition  of  ignorance,  vul- 
garity, and  vice  made  in  his  letters  to  her  was 
deplorable.  The  King  was  greatly  incensed  by 
the  affair ;  and  the  people  attempted  to  make 
another  point  against  the  Dowager- Princess,  by 
attributing  the  Duke's  lack  of  training  to  the 
methods  of  his  mother.  The  plaintiff  in  the 
suit  was  awarded  ,£10,000  damages.  After  the 
action,  the  Duke  abandoned  her.  Thirty  years 
afterwards  she  remarried,  becoming  the  wife  of 
Gen.  George  Porter,  M.P.  The  public  depre- 
cation of  the  Duke's  vices  did  not  make  him 
more  circumspect  in  his  amours.  He  soon  in- 
trigued with  another  married  woman,  the  hand- 
some wife  of  a  timber  merchant;  and  it  was 
uncertain  who  was  most  proud  of  the  honor, 
the  husband  or  the  wife.  After  this  he  became 
infatuated  with  the  Widow  Horton,  she  being 
twenty-four    at    the    time   and    he   some    years 


62  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

younger,  and  attempted  to  insinuate  himself  into 
her  good  graces,  but  she  knew  a  thing  or  two. 
She  would  have  no  trifling.  She  saw  her  chance 
to  play  for  rank  and  royalty.  Glory  was  her  pas- 
sion, and  she  sacrificed  her  lover  to  it,  as  she  had 
never  sacrificed  her  virtue  to  her  lover.  It  had 
to  be  straight  marriage  or  nothing.  The  swain 
succumbed,  and  they  were  married  in  October, 
1 77 1,  at  the  lady's  residence  in  Hertford  Street, 
Mayfair.  They  left  to  travel  on  the  Continent, 
and  the  King  was  apprised  by  an  off-hand  letter 
from  the  Duke  at  Calais.  His  displeasure  at  the 
divorce  proceedings  was  greatly  intensified  by 
this  latest  escapade  of  his  weak-witted  brother. 
Orders  were  given  that  they  should  not  be  re- 
ceived at  foreign  courts.  The  King  exerted 
himself  to  have  the  Royal  Marriage  Bill  passed, 
providing  that  no  member  of  the  royal  family 
could  enter  in  a  marriage  relation  before  he  or 
she  was  twenty-four  years  of  age  without  con- 
sent of  the  King,  and  after  that  age  only  after 
a  year's  notice  of  such  intention  had  been  given 
to  Parliament.  The  support  of  this  measure  be- 
came  a   test   of   personal    loyalty  to    the   King, 


HER    GRACE    OF    CUMBERLAND.  63 

and  it  was  passed  in  1772.  After  spending  some 
years  on  the  Continent,  principally  at  Avignon, 
economizing  their  expenses,  the  pair  returned  to 
London  and  established  themselves  at  Cumber- 
land House  in  Pall  Mall.  Here  they  attempted 
to  institute  a  small  court,  but  there  were  condi- 
tions that  nullified  their  projects.  Their  mar- 
ried life  was  not  a  happy  one.  As  Walpole  puts 
it,  "  The  honeymoon  had  waned  to  half  a  moon 
even  before  they  left  England."  The  King  held 
his  sister-in-law  in  strict  alienation,  and  the 
Duke  was  avoided  by  all  his  royal  relatives  and 
society,  his  friends  being  confined  to  kinspeople 
of  the  Duchess.  His  manners  and  vulgarity 
repelled  people  of  refinement.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Duchess  was  a  woman  who  did  the 
honors  of  hostess  with  consummate  tact  and 
dignity.  The  avoidance  of  them  by  society  had 
its  effect,  however,  on  her  temper  and  spirit. 
She  was  always  haughty,  and  after  her  rise  in 
rank  made  undue  insistence  on  the  recognition 
of  her  position.  Carlton  and  Cumberland  houses 
communicated  behind  by  their  gardens.  Rumor 
had  it  that  the  Duchess  lent  herself  to  help  on, 


64  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

or  to  gratify,  the  Prince  of  Wales'  inclination 
on  some  points  beyond  the  limits  of  propriety. 
The  Duke  had  early  exercised  an  evil  influence 
on  his  nephew's  character  by  leading  him  into 
places  of  debauchery,  and  now  the  Duchess  car- 
ried on  the  evil  by  facilitating  intrigues.  Her 
sister,  Lady  Elizabeth  Luttrell,  lived  with  her, 
and  was  more  a  match  in  manners  and  tastes 
for  the  Duke  than  the  Duchess.  She  was  far 
from  beautiful,  was  coarse  in  her  manners,  un- 
principled in  her  conduct,  and  developed  a  pas- 
sion for  gaming  that  soon  brought  her  to  penury. 
Then  came  the  tragical  end,  —  suicide  by  poison. 
The  Duke  ended  his  inglorious  career  in  1790, 
dying  of  a  scrofulous  malady  in  his  forty-fifth 
year.  His  Duchess  lived  until  1803.  Several 
portraits  of  her  were  painted  which  justify  the 
descriptions  of  her  beauty.  Gainsborough  painted 
one  which  was  engraved  by  Valentine  Green, 
and  again  one  in  conjunction  with  Cosway.  A 
whole-length,  by  Reynolds,  representing  her 
standing  by  a  column,  is  extremely  pleasing. 
The  picture  by  Catharine  Read  is  one  of  the 
few  portraits  known  to  us  by  that  painter  which 


HER    GRACE    OF    CUMBERLAND.  65 

establish  her  ability.  Little  is  known  of  this 
artist.  Fanny  Burney  describes  her  as  "  the 
Rosalba  of  Britain,  whose  works  and  whose 
fame  were  so  at  variance  with  each  other,  the 
works  all  loveliness,  their  author  saturnine,  cold, 
taciturn,  absent  to  an  extreme,  awkward,  and  full 
of  mischarms  in  every  motion  ;  ill  accoutred,  even 
beyond  negligence,  in  her  dress ;  and  plain  enough 
to  produce  grotesquely  an  effect  that  was  almost 
ludicrously  picturesque.  Heart,  kind ;  temper, 
humane ;  friendship,  zealous.  Misfortunes  in 
early  life  embittered  her  existence  and  kept  it 
wavering  in  a  miserable  balance  between  heart- 
less apathy  and  pining  discontent."  She  went 
to  the  East  Indies  to  live,  but  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and  died  in  London. 


Sir  Fulke  Greville,  Lord  Brooke,  of  old 
Elizabethan  days,  to  whom  Warwick  Castle  was 
given  by  James  I.,  erected  his  own  tomb  in 
Warwick  Church,  and  inscribed  thereon,  "  The 
friend  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney."  A  descendant  of 
his,  Fulke  Greville,  second  son  of  Fulke,  fifth 
Baron  Brooke,  is  known  to  posterity  chiefly  as 
the  friend  and  first  patron  of  a  person  scarcely 
less  noble  and  chivalrous  than  Sidney,  —  Dr. 
Charles  Burney,  the  composer,  —  but  also  as  the 
father  of  her,  the  peerless  beauty,  who  was  high 
favorite  among  the  Whigs  of  Fox's  time.  Carry- 
ing himself  with  great  dignity  and  distinction 
of  manner,  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  finest 
gentlemen    of   his    time.       His    appearance   was 


JO  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

impressive.  He  was  tall  and  well-proportioned, 
with  face,  features,  and  complexion  firm  and  clear. 
He  had  an  athlete's  form  and  all  an  athlete's 
zest  for  action  and  sport,  which  conserved  the 
commanding  force  of  that  figure,  and  a  splendid 
fortune  gave  him  a  consequence  about  town. 

Though  having  a  liking  for  music,  letters,  and 
all  the  fine  things  of  culture,  and  making  friends 
among  the  thoughtful  and  learned,  his  character 
was  so  ill-commensurate  with  his  appearance 
that  he  drifted  into  circles  of  modish  dissipation 
at  the  clubs  of  St.  James  Street,  at  the  gaming 
resorts  of  Bath.  He  was  a  determined  devotee 
of  pleasure.  In  the  gay,  the  reckless  society  of 
Bath,  he  became  a  conspicuous  figure  and  a  partici- 
pant in  the  fashionable  vices.  Gaming  became  a 
passion,  and  this  habit  afterwards  depleted  his 
fortune.  Though  of  this  fast  set,  he  wedded, 
not  one  of  the  giddy  daughters  of  fashion,  but  a 
deeply  thoughtful  woman  as  well  as  a  beautiful 
one.  This  was  Fanny  Macartney,  third  daughter 
of  General  James  Macartney,  —  an  Irishman  of 
ancient  family  and  large  fortunes.  She  was 
unconventional   in  manner,  with  an   understand- 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  7  I 

ing  masculine  in  its  depth,  soundness,  and 
capacity ;  was  a  veritable  treasure-house  of  wit, 
and  evidenced  an  uncommon  indifference  to 
high  rank,  if  placed  in  opposition  to  superior 
merit.  Her  features  were  small  and  fine,  and  the 
whole  style  of  her  beauty  was  delicate  and 
feminine.  She  is  the  Flora  in  Walpole's  "  Beau- 
ties," and  has  some  claim  to  literary  fame  as  the 
author  of  an  "  Ode  to  Indifference."  The  wed- 
ding was  a  stolen  one,  no  one  knew  why.  Ma- 
cartney remarked,  "  Mr.  Greville  has  chosen  to 
take  a  wife  out  of  the  window  whom  he  might 
as  well  have  taken  out  of  the  door."  Young 
Burney  was  an  accomplice  in  his  patron's  plot, 
and  the  bride's  sisters  were  present.  The  couple 
retired  to  Wilbury  house,  the  family  seat  near 
Andover,  in  Wiltshire,  and  here  they  lived  in 
princely  style.  It  was  a  home  of  much  comfort 
as  well  as  pleasure.  Charles  Burney  remained  as 
friend  and  companion  to  Mr.  Greville  until  he 
himself  was  married.  Amateur  theatricals  was 
a  frequent  form  of  diversion,  and  in  this  the  bride 
was  a  proficient.  But  Burney  had  ere  long,  in 
1744,  to  personate   the    part   of   godfather   to  a 


72  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

daughter,  standing  as  the  representative  of  the 
Duke  of  Beaufort  at  the  baptism  of  Frances 
Anne,  afterward  the  all-admired  and  indescribably 
beautiful  Mrs.  Crewe.  Shortly  after  this  the 
Grevilles  left  for  the  Continent,  and  spent  five 
years  there,  during  which  time  Mr.  Greville 
published  "  Maxims,  Characters,  and  Reflections, 
Moral,  Serious,  and  Entertaining,"  a  book  in  the 
Rochefoucauld  manner. 

In  time  a  daughter  came  to  Dr.  Burney,  and 
she  too  was  named  Frances ;  and  it  is  from  her 
writings  that  we  obtain  so  many  pleasant  re- 
cords of  eighteenth-century  life.  On  his  return 
to  England,  Mr.  Greville  indulged  his  insatiable 
love  of  gaming.  The  pace  soon  told.  Frequent 
losses  and  ill-luck  in  investments  became  irritat- 
ing. He  was  on  the  high-road  from  a  man  of 
pleasure  to  a  man  of  spleen.  The  superb  Mr. 
Greville,  magnificent  in  mien  and  manner,  grew 
fastidious  and  cavilling  in  general  society.  He 
secured  an  appointment  as  Envoy  Extraordinary 
to  the  Elector  of  Bavaria  and  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary to  the  Diet  of  Ratisbon  in  1765,  which 
he  held  for  four  years.     His  daughter  had  grown 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  73 

up,  inheriting  all  her  mother's  wit,  and  more  than 
her  mother's  moiety  of  beauty.  It  was  radiant, 
matchless  bloom  of  beauty,  a  roseate  freshness 
which  was  prolonged  to  nearly  the  end  of  her 
life.  With  the  fineness  of  coloring,  was  also  a 
chaste  modelling  of  feature,  and  withal  her  "  ways 
were  engirt  with  grace  divine." 

Miss  Greville  was  several  times  a  sitter  to  Sir 
Joshua.  Though  the  painter  wrought  his  great 
renown  by  his  portrayal  chiefly  of  the  Tory 
nobility,  yet  his  intimates  were  of  the  intel- 
lectual radicals  among  whom  Mrs.  Crewe  com- 
panioned as  colleague  and  reigned  as  queen. 
Our  artist  was  a  worshipper  at  the  throne  of 
our  "  Lady  of  Beauty,"  and  took  pleasure  in  avow- 
ing it  in  converse  as  well  as  on  canvas.  She 
first  sat  to  him  in  1760  with  her  brother,  for 
the  picture  entitled  "  Cupid  and  Psyche,"  —  two 
whole-length  portraits.  The  figure  of  Cupid 
was  afterwards  cut  out  by  Mr.  Greville  and 
replaced  by  a  tripod,  in  consequence  of  a  quarrel 
with  his  son.  In  another  picture  she  is  seated 
at  the  base  of  a  tree,  her  chin  resting  in  her  hand 
as  she,  rather  pensively,  reads  a  book.     A  poodle 


74  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

dog  lies  at  her  feet,  while  lambs  are  grouped  near 
by.  In  the  background  there  is  a  meadow  land- 
scape. The  best-known  portrait  of  her  is  the 
one  in  the  picture  of  which  we  give  a  fragment, 
and  which  we  learn  from  Reynolds'  pocket-book 
was  painted  in  1767.  In  the  complete  picture 
is  a  sarcophagus,  towards  which  a  Mrs.  Bouverie 
is  extending  her  hand,  and  this  is  the  reason  for 
the  almost  sad  serenity  of  the  face.  "  The  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine "  records  the  marriage  of 
John  Crewe  with  Miss  Fawkener  on  the  17th 
of  May,  1764.  This  marriage  of  Crewe  to  a 
sister  of  Mrs.  Bouverie  has  been  overlooked  by 
the  Peerage  compilers.  The  recent  death  of  that 
sister,  who  had  been  married  the  same  year  as 
herself,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  motive  for 
the  artist  depicting  her  drawing  the  thoughts 
of  her  dearest  friend,  Miss  Greville,  to  medita- 
tions on  the  tomb.  Henrietta  or  Harriet  Bou- 
verie was  a  daughter  of  Sir  Everard  Fawkener, 
who  was  many  years  Ambassador  at  the  Porte, 
and  died  in  1758.  His  widow,  daughter  of 
General  Churchill,  afterwards  married  Governor 
Pownall.     Her  husband,  Edward  Bouverie,  was 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  75 

younger  brother  to  the  Earl  of  Radnor.  Mrs. 
Bouverie  and  her  son  Edward,  born  1767  and 
died  1858,  were  painted  in  1769  by  Reynolds, 
who  also  painted  a  son  of  Mrs.  Crewe —  Master 
John  Crewe  —  in  1775.  This,  a  whole-length, 
in  costume  of  Henry  VIII.,  is  one  of  his  most 
noted  children's  portraits.  In  a  Walpole  letter 
of  1782  is  this  sentence,  "Mrs.  Bouverie  is  a 
great  politician  too.  The  trade  will  grow  more 
entertaining  if  the  ladies  make  it  the  fashion." 
They  did  make  it  the  vogue,  and  it  became  much 
more  entertaining  for  a  time  than  ever  in  these 
latter  days,  —  days  of  the  Primrose  League  and 
the  "new  woman."  Mrs.  Bouverie  was  married 
a  second  time,  when  over  sixty  years  of  age,  to 
Lord  Robert  Spencer,  youngest  son  of  the  sec- 
ond Duke  of  Marlborough,  and  she  died  in  1825, 
at  Woolbeding,  Sussex,  in  her  seventy-sixth  year. 
Miss  Greville  was  married  in  1768  to  John 
Crewe,  Esq.,  of  Crewe  Hall,  Cheshire  (born  in 
1742),  Sheriff  of  Cheshire  in  1764,  and  M.  P.  for 
Stafford  in  1765,  and  for  the  County  of  Chester 
from  1768  to  1800.  He  was  raised  to  the  peerage 
as  Baron  Crewe  by  his  friend  Fox  in   1806,  and 


76  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

died  in  1829.  As  her  husband  was  of  the  Whig 
party,  she,  through  the  entertainment  of  and 
association  with  his  friends,  became  active  in  ex- 
ploiting the  principles  and  policies  of  that  party. 
Her  conversational  powers,  her  wit  and  her 
beauty,  gave  her  a  prestige  only  equalled  by  that 
of  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire. 

In  the  exultation  following  the  election  of 
Fox,  from  Westminster,  the  festivities  of  the  fete 
at  Carlton  House  were  continued  in  the  evening 
at  Mrs.  Crewe's  townhouse.  It  is  best  described 
by  a  paragraph  from  Wraxall's  "  Memoirs  "  :  — 

"  The  scene  of  festivity  became  transferred  on 
the  same  night  to  Lower  Grosvenor  Street,  where 
Mrs.  Crewe,  the  lady  of  Mr.  Crewe,  gave  a  splen- 
did entertainment,  in  commemoration  of  the  vic- 
tory obtained  over  ministers  in  Covent  Garden. 
Though  necessarily  conducted  on  a  more  limited 
scale  than  that  of  the  morning,  it  exhibited  not  less 
its  own  appropriate  features,  and  was  composed  of 
nearly  the  same  company.  Mrs.  Crewe,  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  Fox,  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
and  charming  women  of  her  time,  had  exerted  her- 
self in  securing  his  election,  if  not  as  efficaciously, 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  77 

yet  as  enthusiastically,  as  the  Duchess  of  Devon- 
shire. On  this  occasion  the  ladies,  no  less  than 
the  men,  were  all  habited  in  blue  and  buff.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  was  present  in  that  dress.  After 
supper  a  toast  having  been  given  by  his  Royal 
Highness,  consisting  of  the  words  '  True  Blue, 
and  Mrs.  Crewe,'  which  was  received  with  rap- 
ture, she  rose  and  proposed  another  health, 
expressive  of  her  gratitude,  and  not  less  laconic  ; 
namely,  '  True  Blue,  and  all  of  you.' " 

Fox  was  always  an  ardent  admirer,  and  in  1775 
wrote  some  adulatory  lines  to  her  which  Walpole 
printed  for  him  on  the  Strawberry  Hill  Press,  — 
love-lines  without    being   amatory.     He    begins, 

"  Where  the  loveliest  expression  to  feature  is  joined, 
By  Nature's  most  delicate  pencil  design'd, 
Where  blushes  unbidden  and  smiles  without  art 
Speak  the  sweetness  and  feeling  that  dwell  in  the  heart ; 
Where  in  manners  enchanting  no  blemish  we  trace, 
But  the  soul  keeps  the  promise  we  had  from  the  face, 
Sure  philosophy,  reason  and  coldness  must  prove 
Defences  unequal  to  shield  us  from  love." 

And  he  then  goes  on  to  further  laud  her  loveli- 
ness, but  also  to  say  why,  for  all  this,  he  is  not  a 


78  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

captive  of  love.     They  are  lines  written  with  ease 
and  taste,  though  without  imagination. 

More  excellent  in  phrasing,  in  subtle  compli- 
ment,  and  impulsive  in  feeling  are  Sheridan's 
lines  in  his  dedication  to  her  of  his  comedy 
"  The  School  for  Scandal."  They  are  interesting 
to  us,  too,  for  their  analysis  of  the  constituent 
charms  and  attractive  attributes  of  her  beauty 
and  manner.     A  long  quotation  only  will  suffice : 

"  Vain  Muse  !     Couldst  thou  the  humblest  sketch  create 
Of  her,  or  slightest  charm  couldst  imitate  ; 
Could  thy  blest  strain  in  kindred  colors  trace 
The  faintest  wonder  of  her  form  and  face,  — 
Poets  would  study  the  immortal  line, 
And  Reynolds  own  his  art  subdued  by  thine ; 
That  art  which  well  might  added  lustre  give 
To  Nature's  best,  and  Heaven's  superlative  : 
On  Granby's  cheek  might  bid  new  glories  rise, 
Or  point  a  purer  beam  from  Devon's  eyes  ! 

Adorning  fashion,  unadorned  by  dress, 

Simple  from  taste  and  not  from  carelessness ; 

Discreet  in  gesture,  in  deportment  mild, 

Not  stiff  with  prudence,  nor  uncouthly  wild  ; 

No  state  has  Amoret ;  no  studied  mien ; 

She  frowns  no  goddess,  and  she  moves  no  queen. 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  jg 

The  softer  charm  that  in  her  manner  lies, 

Is  framed  to  captivate,  yet  not  surprise ; 

It  justly  suits  the  expression  of  her  face,  — 

'T  is  less  than  dignity  and  more  than  grace  ! 

On  her  pure  cheek  the  native  hue  is  such, 

That  formed  by  Heaven  to  be  admired  so  much, 

The  hand  divine,  with  a  less  partial  care, 

Might  well  have  fixed  a  further  crimson  there, 

And  bade  the  gentle  inmate  of  her  breast  — 

Inshrined  modesty  —  supply  the  rest. 

But  who  the  peril  of  her  lips  shall  paint  ? 

Strip  them  of  smiles,  —  still,  still  all  words  are  faint ! 

Clothed  with  such  grace,  with  such  expression  fraught, 

They  move  in  meaning,  and  they  pause  in  thought ! 

But  dost  thou  farther  watch,  with  charmed  surprise, 

The  mild  irresolution  of  her  eyes, 

Curious  to  mark  how  frequent  they  repose, 

In  brief  eclipse  and  momentary  close,  — 

Ah  !  seest  thou  not  an  ambushed  Cupid  there, 

Too  tim'rous  of  his  charge,  with  jealous  care 

Veils  and  unveils  those  beams  of  heavenly  light, 

Too  full,  too  fatal  else,  for  mortal  sight? 

Nor  yet,  such  pleasing  vengeance  fond  to  meet, 

In  pardoning  dimples  hope  a  safe  retreat. 


Thus  lovely,  thus  adorned,  possessing  all 

Of  bright  or  fair  that  can  to  woman  fall. 

.     .     .     half  mistrustful  of  her  beauty's  store, 

She  barbs  with  wit  those  darts  too  keen  before ; 


80  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Read  in  all  knowledge  that  her  sex  should  reach, 
Though  Greville,  or  the  Muse,  should  deign  to  teach. 

A  taste  for  mirth,  by  contemplation  schooled, 
A  turn  for  ridicule,  by  candor  ruled, 
A  scorn  of  folly  which  she  tries  to  hide ; 
An  awe  of  talent,  which  she  owns  with  pride  !  " 

She  entertained  much  at  her  villa  at  Hamp- 
stead,  where  Lord  Loughborough  was  a  neighbor, 
and  also  the  egotistic  Erskine.  Fanny  Burney 
has  recorded  a  visit  to  her  fair  godmother  there : 

"  We  were  received  by  Mrs.  Crewe  with  much 
kindness.  The  room  was  rather  dark,  and  she 
had  a  veil  to  her  bonnet,  half-down,  and  with 
this  aid  she  looked  still  in  a  full  blaze  of  beauty. 
I  was  wholly  astonished.  Her  bloom,  perfectly 
natural,  is  as  high  as  that  of  Augusta  Locke 
when  in  her  best  looks,  and  the  form  of  her 
face  is  so  exquisitely  perfect  that  my  eye  never 
met  it  without  fresh  admiration.  She  is  cer- 
tainly, in  my  eyes,  the  most  completely  a  beauty 
of  any  woman  I  ever  saw.  I  know  not,  even 
now,  any  female  in  her  first  youth  who  could 
bear  the  comparison.  She  uglifies  everything 
near  her."     Here,  as  in  town,  a  radical  company 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  8 1 

assembled.  Burke  and  his  brother  Richard, 
Elliot,  Dr.  Burney,  and  others  were  there  at  this 
special  time,  and  active  were  the  discussions  of 
radical  principles.  A  remark  by  Burke  apart 
from  politics  is  worthy  our  notice.  He  said  of 
Mrs.  Delany,  "  She  was  a  pattern  of  a  perfect 
fine  lady,  a  real  fine  lady,  of  other  days !  Her 
manners  were  faultless ;  her  deportment  was  all 
elegance,  her  speech  was  all  sweetness,  and  her 
air  and  address  all  dignity."  This  must  have 
warmed  the  heart  of  Miss  Fanny,  to  whom  the 
gentle  lady  of  an  earlier  generation  was  most 
dear.  At  this  villa  the  Sheridans  were  always 
welcome.  Here  came  too,  as  frequent  visitors, 
Tickell,  General  Burgoyne,  and  later  Canning 
and  Lawrence. 

Though  her  greatest  repute  has  been  as  a 
political  and  fashionable  leader  at  the  Capital, 
that  is  not  the  finest  phase  of  her  character. 
She  knew  the  obligations  of  her  position  as  mis- 
tress of  a  great  country  house.  Crewe  Hall,  built 
in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  was  a  great,  half-Gothic 
half-Grecian  building,  and  her  husband  was  one 
of  the  politest  of  men  in  his  own  house.     As  a 

6 


82  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

landlord,  he  was  considerate  and  wise.  His 
lady  was  markedly  beloved  of  her  people.  She 
established  and  taught  in  schools,  and  for  her 
many  good  works  she  was  styled  "  The  Abbess." 
Her  family,  too,  she  ruled  well.  Her  daughter 
became  the  Honorable  Mrs.  Cunliffe  Offley. 
Though  a  welcome  visitor  at  the  houses  of  the 
nobility,  and  being  at  her  pleasure  domiciliated  at 
the  various  mansions  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  — 
from  the  marriage  of  one  of  her  brothers  with 
Lady  Charlotte  Bentinck,  a  daughter  of  his  Grace, 
—  Mrs.  Crewe  showed  to  greatest  advantage  as 
hostess  rather  than  guest.  In  the  high-ceiled 
Jacobean  dining-hall,  seated  at  the  head  of  her 
table,  around  which  was  gathered  a  noble  com- 
pany,—  a  company  selected  for  their  high  ability 
in  statesmanship,  letters,  or  art,  —  "Our  Lady  of 
Beauty  "  was  at  her  best  :  only  to  look,  to  speak, 
to  smile,  to  give  pleasure  and  win  homage,  yet 
eager  for  whatever  was  original  in  thought  or 
speech ;  sportively  loquacious,  yet  regally  digni- 
fied, peerless,  supreme. 

She  died    in   1818,   and    was    interred    in    the 
family  vault  at  Barthomley,  Cheshire.     She  had 


TRUE    BLUE    AND    MRS.    CREWE.  83 

two  sons  and  two  daughters,  her  eldest  son  suc- 
ceeding to  his  father's  peerage. 

Viewed  through  the  atmosphere  and  mist  of 
a  dozen  decades,  whose  "  hand  compassionate 
guards  our  restless  sight  against  how  many  a 
harshness,  many  an  ill,"  hers  was  an  altogether 
lovely  character.  Though  associated  with  the 
shameless  set  of  the  Regent,  she  had  no  part 
in  their  dissoluteness.  She  did  kindness  upon 
kindness  unto  her  friends  and  dependents.  Her 
dower  of  beauty  gave  largess  of  delight  to 
high  and  low.  She  felt  the  full  force  of  noblesse 
oblige. 


Her  Grace  was  a  woman  of  incisive  personal- 
ity, who  contemned  conventionality  and  eti- 
quette ;  but  who  in  her  own  person  was  regarded 
as  the  arbiter  of  social  affairs,  and  was  termed 
"  the  Empress  of  Fashion."  Jane,  known  in 
song  as  "  Jenny  of  Monreith  "  and  "  The  Flower 
of  Galloway,"  was  the  second  daughter  of  Sir 
William  Maxwell,  third  Baronet  of  Monreith, 
Wigtownshire,  by  his  wife,  Magdalen  Blair  of 
Blair,  and  was  born  in  1749  in  Hyndford's  Close, 
Edinburgh,  where  her  mother  occupied  a  large 
second-floor  flat.  As  a  young  girl,  she  was  a  bois- 
terous hoiden.  Lord  Erskine,  whose  home  was 
at  the  head  of  Gray's  Close,  used  to  tell  of  her 
being  sent  to  the  fountain-well  in  front  of  John 


88  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Knox's  house  for  a  kettle  of  water,  and  of  her 
riding  home  on  the  back  of  a  pig  turned  out  of 
a  neighboring  wynd  in  the  High  Street,  while 
her  sister  Eglintoun,  commonly  called  Betty, 
thumped  the  pig  with  a  stick. 

But  the  romping  girl  ripened  into  a  comely 
young  gentlewoman,  albeit  one  of  high  spirit.  In 
1767,  Alexander,  the  fourth  Duke  of  Gordon, 
came  wooing  the  beautiful  Jenny.  He  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  tall  and  extremely  hand- 
some. He  had  succeeded  his  father  to  the  duke- 
dom in  1752,  and  in  1761  was  made  one  of  the 
sixteen  representative  peers  of  Scotland.  Lord 
Karnes  described  him  as  the  greatest  subject  in 
Britain,  not  only  in  the  extent  of  his  rent-roll, 
but  also  in  the  number  of  persons  depending  on 
his  rule  and  protection.  The  allurement  of  posi- 
tion and  the  urging  of  her  own  family  led  Miss 
Maxwell  to  accept  the  Duke.  She  was  married 
from  the  house  of  her  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Fordyce, 
who  had  married  her  sister  Catharine  in  Argyll 
Street,  Edinburgh. 

As  a  girl,' she  had  been  strongly  attached  to  a 
young   officer,    who    reciprocated   her    affection. 


HER    GRACE    OF    GORDON.  89 

The  soldier  was  ordered  abroad  with  his  regi- 
ment, and  shortly  afterwards  was  reported  dead. 
After  the  first  burst  of  grief  had  spent  itself,  she 
sank  into  a  state  of  listlessness  and  apathy  that 
seemed  immovable.  "  The  dead  pass  quickly." 
She  married  the  Duke  ;  but  when  on  their  wed- 
ding tour  they  visited  Ay  ton  House  in  Berwick- 
shire, and  there  the  Duchess  received  a  letter 
addressed  to  her  in  her  maiden  name  and  in  the 
hand  of  her  early  lover.  He  was,  he  said,  on  his 
way  home  to  complete  their  happiness  by  mar- 
riage. She  fled  from  the  house,  and  was  found 
after  long  search  by  the  side  of  a  burn,  nearly 
crazed.  She  plunged  into  all  sorts  of  gayety  and 
excitement,  and  though  she  afterwards  became 
an  excellent  mother,  never  evinced  any  attach- 
ment for  the  Duke.  In  1770,  her  eldest  son  was 
born,  and  for  him,  who  developed  into  one  of  the 
most  popular  of  the  young  nobility  of  the  period, 
she  always  had  an  extreme  fondness.  Her  hus- 
band was  an  easy-going  man,  caring  for  rural  pur- 
suits and  sports;  his  son  George  was  a  man  of 
stronger  personality  and  greater  spirit.  He  was 
trained  to  a  military  career.      He    commanded 


90  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

the  grenadier  company  of  the  Forty-second 
Highlanders ;  afterwards  was  appointed  lieuten- 
ant-colonel in  the  Third  Footguards,  and  went  to 
Flanders  with  his  regiment  in  the  Duke  of  York's 
army.  On  his  return  he  raised  a  regiment  of 
Highlanders  on  the  paternal  estates,  in  which  he 
was  assisted  by  his  father  and  his  mother;  the  latter 
arrayed  herself  in  the  regimental  colors,  and  by 
many  feminine  arts  won  recruits.  She  would  place 
a  shilling  between  her  teeth,  and  the  young  yokels 
were  privileged  to  sample  "  the  silk  and  savor  of 
her  lips  "  in  accepting  it.  The  regiment  was  in- 
spected at  Aberdeen  in  1794,  and  passed  into 
the  line  as  the  One-Hundredth  Gordon  Highland- 
ers of  foot.  Five  years  later  it  was  called  the 
Ninety-Second  Foot,  and  became  famous  as  the 
Second  Gordon    Highlanders. 

Our  Duchess  became  even  more  famed  in 
securing  recruits  for  the  Pitt  ministry  than  for 
the  regiment.  She  was  whipper-in  for  the  Tory 
party,  and  long  held  sway  in  the  political  as  well 
as  the  social  world.  She  had  an  assertiveness 
which,  backed  by  her  beauty,  was  not  to  be 
withstood ;    and    her   energy   was   equal    to    her 


HER    GRACE    OF    GORDON.  9 1 

ambition.  The  portrait  by  Reynolds,  painted 
in  1775,  shows  beauty  of  feature,  but  not  her 
impressive  presence.  Her  speech  was  bright, 
though  at  times  marred  by  coarseness,  and  her 
wit  too  often  had  a  tang.  Walpole  gives  a 
glimpse  of  her  energy  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure : 
"  She  first  went  to  Handel's  music  in  the  Abbey ; 
she  then  clambered  over  the  benches  and  went 
to  Hastings's  trial  in  the  Hall ;  after  dinner  to 
the  play ;  then  to  Lady  Lucan's  assembly ;  after 
that,  to  Ranelagh ;  and  then  returned  to  Mrs. 
Hobart's  faro-table ;  gave  a  ball  herself  in  the 
evening  of  that  morning  into  which  she  must 
have  got  a  good  way,  and  set  out  for  Scotland 
the  next  day.  Hercules  could  not  have  achieved 
half  her  labors  in  the  same  space  of  time." 

Her  sister  Betty,  also  noted  for  her  beauty, 
was  a  person  of  unconventional  behavior,  and  be- 
came a  woman  with  a  career.  She  married  Sir 
Thomas  Wallace  of  Craigie,  a  Scotch  baronet,  but 
it  was  an  unhappy  union.  She  prosecuted  him 
for  adultery  before  the  Court  of  Session,  but  the 
case  was  dismissed.  She  never  lived  with  him 
again,  became    eccentric    in    her    manners    and 


92  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

speech,  habited  herself  as  a  man,  and  was  "  the 
new  woman "  of  her  day.  She  produced  a 
comedy  called  "  The  Ton."  Lady  Wallace  ter- 
minated her  remarkable  career  at  Munich,  cen- 
sured for  the  irregularities  of  her  deportment  and 
little  lamented  by  her  own  family. 

Because  of  the  connection  of  Lord  George 
Gordon,  the  Duke's  youngest  brother,  with  the 
Gordon  riots,  the  Duchess  lost  her  prestige  in 
society  for  a  time.  She  was  in  Scotland  when 
the  troubles  occurred,  and  remained  there  for 
some  time,  devoting  her  abilities  to  the  care  of 
the  Duke's  tenantry,  and  to  supervising  and  ag- 
grandizing his  possessions.  Gordon  Castle  was 
rebuilt,  and  the  grounds  improved.  N.  P.Willis, 
in  his  "  Famous  Persons  and  Places,"  gives  an 
interesting  description  of  the  place  under  the  last 
Duke. 

As  leader  of  society  in  Edinburgh,  her  Grace 
held  much  the  same  position  she  had  in  London. 
Her  friend  Erskine  was  a  neighbor  in  George 
Square.  On  the  removal  of  the  Duchess  to  the 
more  fashionable  New  Town,  her  Grace  said 
she  regretted   having  to  leave  the  house   which 


HER    GRACE    OF    GORDON.  93 

had  been  her  home  so  long;  but  that  really  the 
Old  Town  was  intolerably  dull.  "  Madam,"  re- 
plied Erskine,  "  that  is  as  if  the  sun  were  to  say, 
'  It  seems  vastly  dull  weather ;  I  think  I  shall  not 
rise  this  morning.' " 

But  in  Scotland  she  was  more  than  a  social 
and  a  political  leader ;  she  was  a  patron  of  letters 
and  enjoyed  intellectual  society.  She  received 
Burns  graciously,  and  introduced  him  to  the  fes- 
tivities of  the  New  Assembly  Rooms  and  to  high 
society.  Perhaps  her  greatest  virtue  was  her 
beneficent  friendship  for  Dr.  Beattie  and  his  ill- 
fated  wife.  Lord  Karnes  and  Lord  Monboddo 
were  two  learned  men  who  were  among  her  dear- 
est friends. 

Her  family  had  grown.  Five  daughters  and 
a  second  son,  Alexander,  fifteen  years  younger 
than  his  brother,  the  Marquis  of  Huntly,  com- 
posed it.  All  the  daughters  married  well.  The 
eldest,  Charlotte,  became  Duchess  of  Richmond, 
and  through  her  the  present  Duke,  born  in  1818, 
bears  the  double  title  of  Duke  of  Richmond  and 
Gordon,  the  latter  title  being  revived  in  1876. 
Susan,  the  third  daughter,  married  the   Duke  of 


94  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Manchester;  and  Georgiana,  the  youngest,  be- 
came the  wife  of  John,  Duke  of  Bedford.  Her 
son  Alexander  never  married.  The  Marquis  of 
Huntly  married  Elizabeth  Brodie,  who,  as  the 
last  Duchess  of  Gordon,  achieved  a  fame  in  Scot- 
land for  her  graciousness,  goodness,  and  piety. 

"  Great,  fair,  rich,  wise,  all  in  superlatives," 
she  devoted  herself  to  the  betterment  of  the  peo- 
ple. Hers  was  a  career  the  very  antipodes  of 
that  of  Duchess  Jane.  The  latter  devoted  most 
of  her  energy  to  the  gayety  of  assemblies  and 
routs ;  but  while  thus  engaged,  ';  the  vanward 
clouds  of  evil  days  "  blew  her  way.  She  became 
estranged  from  her  husband  and  from  most  of 
her  family,  and  led  a  wandering,  almost  a  home- 
less, life.  Her  friend,  Henry  Erskine,  and  Sir 
James  Montgomery  endeavored  to  arrange  her 
differences  with  the  Duke,  but  it  was  of  no  avail. 
Though  a  Pittite,  she  was  friendly  with  the  Re- 
gent, and  took  part  in  the  festivities  of  Carlton 
House.  In  1812,  she  was  on  her  way  thither, 
when  she  was  taken  ill  at  Pulteney's  Hotel  in 
Piccadilly,  and  there,  surrounded  by  all  her  chil- 
dren,  she    died   in    her   sixty-fourth    year.      Her 


HER    GRACE    OF    GORDON.  95 

body  lay  in  gorgeous  state  for  three  days,  and 
was  buried,  by  her  own  request,  at  Kinrara,  In- 
vernesshire.  In  1820,  the  Duke  married  Mrs. 
Jane  Christie  of  Fochabers,  by  whom  he  had 
previously  had  a  large  family.  She  died  without 
further  issue  in  1824. 

In  1865,  an  autobiographical  sketch  of  Jane 
Maxwell  was  privately  printed  in  Glasgow ;  and 
this  reveals  the  ambitious  and  real  sentiments  of 
the  pleasure-loving  Duchess.  We  shall  always 
know  her  as  the  lady  of  lovely  and  noble  feature 
depicted  by  Reynolds,  and  this  record  will  long 
outlast  the  written  one  of  her  vagaries,  her  gaye- 
ties,  and  her  sorrows. 


ELIZABETH 
LADY  CRAVEN 


rsTr 


In  so  many  instances  when  Reynolds  and 
Romney  painted  portraits  of  the  same  person,  the 
work  of  the  latter  painter  has  become  the  stand- 
ard presentment  of  the  sitter,  rather  than  that 
by  the  more  illustrious  artist.  This  is  noticeably 
so  in  the  cases  of  those  ill-starred  ladies  of 
beauty,  Mrs.  Robinson,  the  actress,  and  Lady 
Craven.. 

In  the  memoirs  of  the  Margravine  of  Anspach 
is  a  frontispiece  engraving  after  Reynolds'  por- 
trait of  her  with  her  son,  Keppel,  standing  at  her 
knee.  She  tells  a  story  relative  to  this  picture. 
Johnson  inquired  of  Reynolds  why  he  had  not 
finished  the  picture,  for  which  Lady  Craven  had 


IOO  DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

sat  six  times.  Reynolds  replied,  "  There  is  some- 
thing so  comical  in  the  lady's  face  that  all  my 
art  cannot  describe  it."  Johnson  repeated  the 
word  "  comical "  ten  times,  in  every  different  tone, 
and  finished  in  that  of  anger.  Angelica  Kauff- 
mann  painted  a  portrait  of  her  shortly  before  she 
became  Lady  Craven.  Madame  Le  Brun  painted 
a  three-quarters  length  which  the  sitter  expressed 
dissatisfaction  with.  The  oval  by  Romney,  which 
was  possessed  by  Walpole,  and  hung  in  the  blue 
room  at  Strawberry  Hill,  is  the  portrait  Lady 
Craven  will  be  known  by  to  all  interested  in  her 
brilliant,  wilful,  and  much  maligned  career.  In 
this  is  the  seductively  timid  look  that  suggests 
the  fascinating  eye  of  the  fawn  and  that  peculiar 
bend  of  the  neck  which  gave  to  the  lady  the  name 
of  "  the  Swan."  Her  hair  was  auburn,  long,  and 
soft  as  silk.  The  eyes  that  cast  their  glory  in  so 
many  a  court  were  lustrous  hazel,  while  her  skin 
was  delicately  white,  tinted  with  tenderest  of  car- 
nations. Tall  and  slight  of  figure,  she  was  the 
ideal  type  of  the  patrician  Plantagenet. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  Drax,   of  Shar- 
borough,   in   the  county  of    Dorset,  became  the 


THE    MARGRAVINE    OF    ANSPACH.  IOI 

Countess  of  Augustus,  fourth  Earl  of  Berkeley. 
There  were  eight  children  from  this  union,  three 
of  whom  died  infants,  and  the  youngest  of  all 
was  Elizabeth,  Lady  Berkeley,  born  in  1750. 
When  she  was  but  five  years  old,  her  father  died, 
—  a  father  of  a  generous  and  gentle  disposition. 
His  widow  married  Robert  Nugent,  created  Earl 
Nugent,  by  whom  she  had  two  daughters,  the 
younger  of  whom  was  disavowed  by  Nugent.  The 
tempers  of  the  lady  and  the  Earl,  who  was  much 
older  than  she,  were  so  impatient  that  they 
disagreed,  and  they  separated  after  they  had  been 
married  two  years.  Countess  Berkeley,  who  was 
handsome  and  worldly,  had  been  lady  of  the  bed- 
chamber to  the  Princess  of  Wales,  and  was  much 
in  favor  with  her  when  the  Princess  became  Dow- 
ager, and  was  the  object  of  the  distrust  and 
calumny  of  the  people.  The  Countess,  who  was 
not  an  affectionate  mother,  always  had  some  aver- 
sion to  her  youngest  child.  The  girl  was  excel- 
lently trained,  however,  by  a  devoted  governess, 
and  though  extremely  delicate  showed  much  intel- 
lectual strength  and  mental  ability.  The  Coun- 
tess of  Suffolk  was  her  godmother,  and  between 


102         DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

them  a  great  affection  existed.  At  the  age  of 
thirteen,  "  Bessy  "  and  her  sister,  Lady  Georgiana, 
went  to  pass  six  months  at  Paris,  and  even  at 
this  early  day  her  attractiveness  of  manner  and 
vivacity  of  converse  became  apparent.  At  sixteen 
her  sister  eloped  with  Lord  Forbes,  and  this  cir- 
cumstance made  the  Countess  active  to  arrange  a 
suitable  match  for  Lady  Elizabeth.  The  latter 
was  presented  at  Court,  where  she  received  excess 
of  caresses  and  homage.  Many  were  the  suitors 
for  her  hand,  but  none  were  encouraged,  and  she 
was  reproached  for  this  by  her  mother.  Finally 
a  marriage  with  Mr.  Craven,  heir  to  Lord  Craven, 
was  arranged,  though  the  lady  protested  she  had 
no  love  for  him,  and  the  wedding  took  place  in 
1767,  the  bride's  brother,  Lord  Berkeley,  and  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  giving  her  away.  This  gay 
and  apparently  thoughtless  girl,  sensitive  and 
timid,  vivacious  and  a  trifle  vain,  retired  to  Ash- 
down  Park,  where  she  became  the  mother  of  two 
daughters  in  two  years.  Her  husband,  who  had 
now  inherited  the  estates  and  title  of  Lord  Craven, 
was  affectionate  and  devoted,  giving  his  wife  those 
luxuries  and  that  adulation  which  her  tastes  and 


THE    MARGRAVINE    OF  ANSPACH.  I03 

self-complacency  craved.  Her  lord,  though,  was 
not  possessed  of  the  mentality  or  the  culture  and 
refinement  for  this  to  be  a  true  union  of  minds. 
For  thirteen  years  they  lived  together,  when  the 
rift  came  that  made  the  music  mute. 

Long  ere  this,  Lady  Craven  made  some  bril- 
liant successes  in  literature.  She  was  highly 
esteemed  by  Dr.  Johnson,  by  Mrs.  Montague, 
and  by  Walpole.  The  latter  has  written  some 
pleasing  comments  on  her  early  efforts,  —  com- 
mending the  nature,  character,  simplicity,  and 
observation  therein.  He  printed,  at  the  Straw- 
berry Hill  Press,  a  translation  from  the  French 
called  "  The  Sleep- Walker,"  which  is  now  very 
rare.  In  1780,  he  writes  to  his  friend  Mason  a 
capital  report  of  her  appearance  as  a  dramatist. 
"  There  has  been  such  an  uncommon  event  that 
I  must  give  you  an  account  of  it,  as  it  relates  to 
the  republic  of  poetry,  of  which  you  are  priest, 
and  to  the  aristocracy  of  noble  authors,  of  which 
I  am  Gentleman  Usher.  Lady  Craven's  comedy, 
called  '  The  Miniature  Picture,'  which  she  acted 
herself,  with  a  genteel  set,  at  her  own  house  in 
the   country,  has   been  played  at  Drury  Lane. 


104  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

The  chief  singularity  of  it  was,  that  she  went 
to  it  herself  the  second  night  in  form,  sat  in  the 
middle  of  the  front  row  of  the  stage-box,  much 
dressed,  with  a  profusion  of  white  bugles  and 
plumes,  to  receive  the  public  homage  due  to  her 
sex  and  loveliness.  ...  It  is  amazing  to  see  so 
young  a  woman  entirely  possess  herself ;  but 
there  is  such  an  integrity  and  freshness  in  her 
consciousness  of  her  own  beauty  and  talents  that 
she  speaks  of  them  with  a  naivete  as  if  she  had 
no  property  in  them,  but  only  wore  them  as  gifts 
of  the  gods.  Lord  Craven,  on  the  contrary,  was 
quite  agitated  by  his  fondness  for  her,  and  with 
impatience  at  the  bad  performance  of  the  actors, 
which  was  wretched  indeed ;  yet  the  address  of 
the  plot,  which  is  the  chief  merit  of  the  piece, 
and  some  pencilling,  carried  it  off  very  well, — 
though  Parsons  murdered  the  Scotch  Lord,  and 
Mrs.  Robinson  (who  is  supposed  to  be  the  favor 
ite  of  the  Prince  of  Wales)  thought  on  nothing 
but  her  own  charms  or  him.  There  is  a  very 
good,  though  endless,  prologue,  written  by  Sheri- 
dan and  spoken  in  perfection  by  King,  which 
was  encored  (an  entire  novelty)  the  first   night; 


THE    MARGRAVINE    OF    ANSPACH.  IO5 

and  an  epilogue  that  I  liked  still  better,  and 
which  was  full  as  well  delivered  by  Mrs.  Abing- 
ton,  written  by  Mr.  Jekyll.  The  audience,  though 
very  civil,  missed  a  fair  opportunity  of  being  gal- 
lant; for  in  one  of  those  ogues,  I  forget  which, 
the  noble  authoress  was  mentioned,  and  they  did 
not  applaud,  as  they  ought  to  have  done  exceed- 
ingly, when  she  condescended  to  avow  her  pretty 
child,  and  was  there  looking  so  very  pretty  herself. 
.  .  .  Lady  Craven's  tranquillity  had  nothing  dis- 
pleasing; it  was  only  the  ease  that  conscious 
pre-eminence  bestows  on  sovereigns,  whether  their 
empire  consists  in  beauty  or  power." 

This  was  in  the  year  of  the  separation  from 
her  husband.  He  was  discovered  to  devote  his 
time  and  attentions  to  a  mistress,  so  his  lady  left 
him.  She  went  to  the  Continent,  taking  with  her 
Keppel,  the  youngest  son.  Her  four  daughters 
and  two  other  sons  remained  with  their  father. 
After  a  stay  in  Paris,  where  her  manners  and 
abilities  gained  her  many  friends  among  the  old 
nobility  and  the  especial  attention  of  the  queen, 
Marie  Antoinette,  she  proceeded  through  Lyons, 
Avignon,  and   Marseilles.     Thence  she  went  to 


106  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Genoa,  Pisa,  Venice,  and  Florence,  and  at  the 
latter  place  met  Sir  Horace  Mann,  to  whom  she 
was  commended  by  Walpole.  He  writes:  "She 
has,  I  fear,  been  infinitamente  indiscreet.  She  is 
very  pretty,  has  parts,  and  is  good-natured  to  the 
highest  degree,  has  not  a  grain  of  malice  or  mis- 
chief,—  almost  always  the  associates  in  women 
of  tender  hearts,  —  and  never  has  been  an  enemy 
but  to  herself."  She  went  on  to  Vienna,  and 
there  the  Emperor  was  attentive ;  from  there  to 
Poland,  where  the  King  became  a  devotee.  On 
to  St.  Petersburg  she  went,  and  at  this  Court 
captivated  Catharine.  She  then  went  south- 
ward to  Constantinople.  A  narrative  of  this 
trip  was  published  in  1789,  entitled,  "A  Journey 
through  the  Crimea  to  Constantinople."  She 
returned  to  England  to  make  arrangements  for 
living  at  Anspach,  and  to  receive  her  mother's 
approbation  of  the  plan.  Here  she  resided  un- 
der the  protection  of  Christian  Frederick  Charles 
Alexander,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  Anspach, 
and  Baruth,  Duke  of  Prussia,  Count  of  Sayn,  born 
in  1736,  a  nephew  of  Frederick  the  Great.  His 
father's  sister  was  the  good  Queen  Caroline,  wife 


THE    MARGRAVINE    OF    ANSPACH.  IO7 

of  George  II.  of  England.  The  Margravine  was 
a  weak,  delicate,  inconsequential  person,  and  Lady 
Craven's  strong  personality  soon  dominated  the 
Court.  She  wrote  to  her  husband  that  she  was 
to  be  treated  as  the  Margrave's  sister.  Certain 
it  is  that  the  Prussian  royal  family,  and  all  other 
Courts,  received  her  with  every  mark  of  esteem 
and  respect.  She  was  travelling  in  Spain  in 
1 79 1,  with  the  Margrave,  when  she  received 
news  of  the  death  of  Lord  Craven.  She  almost 
immediately  married  the  Prussian  prince,  his 
consort  having  died  some  time  before  this.  In 
Anspach  she  was  not  in  great  favor  with  the 
people ;  and  a  sinister  influence  on  affairs,  in  favor 
of  what  was  English,  was  imputed  to  her.  The 
Margrave  disposed  of  his  possessions  to  the  King 
of  Prussia  and  removed  to  England,  taking  up 
his  residence  at  Brandenburg  House.  Neither 
his  wife's  relatives  nor  the  English  Court  received 
them  graciously.  Thereafter,  it  was  as  a  dramatist 
and  a  patron  of  the  arts  that  her  career  excited 
interest.  Indeed,  in  our  day,  it  is  only  as  a  dram- 
atist, and  not  as  a  lady  of  high  rank  or  social 
import,  that  the  biographical  dictionaries  record 


108  DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

her.      Were  it   not  for   Romney,  we  would  say 
with  Waller, 

"  How  small  a  part  of  time  they  share 
That  are  so  wondrous  sweet  and  fair." 

Her  beauty  faded,  but  her  art  remained. 

In  1778  had  appeared  a  comedy  called  "  Som- 
nambule,"  and  in  1 781,  at  the  Haymarket,  a  musi- 
cal farce  entitled  "A  Silver  Tankard."  In  1794 
appeared  "  A  Yorkshire  Ghost ;  "  two  years  later 
a  comedy,  "  The  Provoked  Wife,"  to  the  perform- 
ance of  which  Mrs.  Abington  lent  her  services, 
and  the  Margravine  herself  acted.  Following 
these  came  "  The  Princess  of  Georgia,"  at  Cov- 
ent  Garden,"  and  a  pantomime,  "  Puss  in  Boots." 
The  Margrave  died  in  1806.  His  widow  re- 
turned to  the  Continent,  and  with  her  son  Keppel 
lived  at  Naples,  where  she  died  in  1828.  Her 
memoirs,  written  by  herself,  were  published  two 
years  before  her  death.  Her  eldest  son,  William, 
seventh  Baron  and  first  Earl  Craven,  married  an 
actress,  Louisa  Brunton,  who  was  born  1785,  in 
a  low  station.  She  appeared  on  the  stage  in 
"  The  Provoked  Husband,"  with  Kemble,  in  1803. 


THE    MARGRAVINE    OF    ANSPACH.  IO9 

She  had  much  beauty,  with  features  expressive 
of  archness  and  vivacity.  Keppel  Craven,  who 
was  the  only  one  of  her  family  who  showed  much 
regard  for  their  mother,  travelled  extensively,  but 
settled  eventually  at  Salerno,  where  he  bought 
a  convent  and  entertained  his  friends  with  great 
hospitality.  He  was  of  a  gentle  and  dignified, 
yet  genial,  character ;  the  epitome  of  all  the  gra- 
ciousness  and  culture  of  his  lovely  mother,  and 
without  her  indiscretion  and  self-complacency. 


Mn  nfthcrbcft- 


.-* 


5\</EET  LA55  OF 
RICHMOND  HILL. 


Ki;vYvvvvvvMvvvivrvvvvT»vvxvvvv»»t^»vvvxyvY«vyyin;y«l 


^ 


Over  a  century  ago,  before  the  then  heir  to 
the  British  throne  was  three  and  twenty  years  of 
age,  he  had  been  guilty  of  many  a  disreputable 
brawl,  many  a  shameless  intrigue,  and  many  a 
cowardly  desertion.  All  the  influence  of  the  pal- 
ace of  piety,  of  titled  governors,  of  learned  in- 
structors, and  of  reverend  prelates  gave  little 
restraint  as  he  sped 

"  Down  pleasure's  stream,  with  swelling  sails." 

Their  goodly  parts  were  offset  by  his  uncle,  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  —  termed  by  the  news- 
papers the  royal  idiot,  —  who  led  the  youth, 
whom   he  called  "  Taffy,"  into  all  places  of  evil, 

8 


114  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

until  his  conversation,  so  far  from  being  princely, 
became  a  compound  of  the  slang  of  grooms  and 
the  wanton  vocabulary  of  a  brothel.  Already 
had  passed  into  history  his  liaison  with  Mrs. 
Robinson.  Infinite  pathos  attaches  to  this  lady's 
careen  A  young  wife  of  a  deceiving,  unworthy 
husband,  distressed  in  circumstances,  she  went 
upon  the  stage,  and  by  ability  became  a  great 
success.  In  1780,  the  young  Prince  of  Wales 
was  attracted  by  her  beauty  as  she  played  Per- 
dita  in  "  A  Winter's  Tale."  Signing  his  requests 
Florizel,  he  asked  a  meeting.  She  denied  and 
repulsed  him  for  some  time,  but  yielded  at  last. 
Mistress  she  became  for  two  years,  and  then 
was  cast  aside.  The  income  of  the  stage  and 
its  honorable  profession  she  had  given  up  for 
the  royal  lover  who  now  passed  her  by.  The 
notorious  Mrs.  Grace  Elliott  was  her  immediate 
successor,  —  one  of  the  most  shameless  cour- 
tesans of  that  century.  Vice  and  vulgarity,  fool- 
ishness and  frivolity,  were  the  known  record  of 
this  prince  as  he  "sailed  the  unmanageable 
years." 

About  1 785  there  was  living  at  Richmond  Hill 


SWEET    LASS    OF    RICHMOND    HILL.  115 

a  young  widow,  with  attractive  manners,  and, 
unfortunately  for  herself,  a  pretty  face. 

"  For  beauty  is  a  dangerous  gift, 
And  apt  to  breed  disorder." 

This  lady  was  Mary  Anne  Smythe,  the  daughter 
of  Walter  Smythe,  of  Bambridge,  in  the  county 
of  Hants,  second  son  of  Sir  John  Smythe,  Bart. 
She  was  born  in  1756,  and  married,  in  1775, 
Edward  Weld,  of  Lulworth  Castle,  in  the  county 
of  Dorset,  who  died  in  the  course  of  the  same 
year.  In  1778  she  married,  secondly,  Thomas 
Fitzherbert  of  Swynnerton  Park,  in  the  county 
of  Stafford,  and  lord  of  the  manor  of  Norbury ; 
but  in  three  years  she  was  widowed  again,  her 
husband  dying  from  over-exertion  in  endeavoring 
to  save  Lord  Mansfield's  house  from  being  burned 
during  the  ravages  of  the  Gordon  riots.  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert, who  was  a  strict  and  devout  Roman  Cath- 
olic, retired  to  the  Continent  for  some  years  after 
her  second  husband's  death.  She  was  introduced 
at  the  Court  of  France,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
rendered  her  homage.  On  her  return  to  England 
she  went  to  reside   near  Richmond.     Here  the 


Il6  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

Prince  of  Wales  became  acquainted  with  her,  and 
was  at  once  enamoured.  It  has  been  asserted 
that  the  song,  "  The  Lass  of  Richmond  Hill " 
was  inspired  by  her  attractions,  and  it  is  even 
said  was  written  by  the  Prince,  and  that 

"  I  would  crowns  resign  to  call  her  mine, 
Sweet  lass  of  Richmond  Hill," 

was  literal  declaration,  and  not  metaphor.  Leigh 
Hunt  suggests  that  Lady  Sarah  Lennox  was  the 
lass,  and  that  George  the  Third  wrote  the  ballad. 
No  credible  evidence  has  been  adduced  that 
either  father  or  son  was  the  author.  We  know 
it  was  beyond  the  wits  of  either.  The  lady 
repulsed  the  amorous  prince.  She  was  possessed 
of  some  dignity  and  a  regard  for  the  decencies  of 
life,  —  was  admired  and  caressed  by  all  who  were 
acquainted  with  the  singular  attractions  of  her 
character.  She  was  in  receipt  of  an  income  of  a 
couple  of  thousands  of  pounds,  and  in  this  she 
differed  from  other  inamoratas  of  the  prince,  as 
she  had  not  to  resist  the  lure  of  a  better  style  of 
living.  She  resisted  her  suitor.  His  passion 
and   protestations   availed    not.      He    offered    to 


SWEET    LASS    OF   RICHMOND    HILL.  I  I  7 

cede  his  right  of  succession  to  his  brother 
Frederick,  and  to  retire  to  America.  Other  ro- 
mantic schemes  were  proposed  and  rejected,  so 
mock  heroics  were  resorted  to.  One  morning 
Lord  Onslow,  Lord  Southampton,  and  Edward 
Bouverie  called  on  the  lady  and  told  her  the 
Prince,  in  his  despair,  had  stabbed  himself,  and 
they  asked  her  immediate  presence  with  him. 
On  her  way  to  Carlton  House  she  called  upon 
her  confidential  friend,  the  Duchess  of  Devon- 
shire, to  accompany  her.  They  found  the  royal 
love-sick  victim  in  bed ;  a  knife  lay  on  a  table 
near  by,  and  spots  of  blood  were  spattered  around, 
but  also  on  that  table  was  a  glass  of  brandy  and 
water.  The  episode  was  a  laughable  admixture 
of  absurd  sentimentality  and  seriousness. 

Such  agitation,  entreaty,  and  tears  as  his  were 
a  menace  to  the  loved  one's  freedom.  It  is  said 
his  manner  was  irresistible,  —  was  as  graceful 
as  his  actions  were  srraceless.  Mrs.  Fitzherbert 
wished  not  to  be  compromised,  and  deemed  it 
prudent  to  escape  the  impetuous  lover,  so  re- 
tired again  to  the  Continent.  His  couriers 
tracked    her,    and    importuned    return    for    the 


Il8         DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

Prince's  sake.  Her  advisers  thought  it  politic 
for  her  to  return ;  but  her  religious  scruples  must 
be  satisfied  before  she  surrendered.  On  Decem- 
ber 21,  1785,  at  her  house  in  Park  Lane,  in  the 
presence  of  some  of  her  relatives,  the  nuptial 
ceremony  was  performed  according  to  the  ritual 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  also  the  Protestant 
service  was  performed  by  Rev.  Samuel  Johnes. 

Of  course,  according  to  the  Royal  Marriage 
Act,  the  marriage  was  null  and  void ;  and  but  for 
this  the  Prince  would,  by  his  marriage  with  a 
Roman  Catholic  lady,  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Bill  of  Rights,  have  forfeited  his  right  of  succes- 
sion to  the  throne.  The  fact  of  the  marriage 
did  not  trouble  the  Prince  much.  He  denied  it 
to  his  friends.  Information  in  regard  to  it  was 
asked  for  in  the  House.  Fox,  as  the  leader  of 
the  Whigs  and  the  friend  of  the  Prince,  denied 
it  in  point  of  fact  as  well  as  law.  Mr.  Rolle 
asked  if  he  spoke  from  direct  authority.  Fox  re- 
plied that  he  had  direct  authority.  Sheridan 
extolled  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  as  a  friend  of  the  Prince, 
having  a  good  influence  on  him. 

The  Prince  called  the  morning  after  the  speech 


SWEET    LASS    OF    RICHMOND    HILL.  I  1 9 

in  the  House,  went  up  to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  and 
taking  hold  of  both  her  hands  and  caressing  her, 
said,  "  Only  conceive,  Maria,  what  Fox  did  yester- 
day. He  went  down  to  the  House  and  denied  that 
you  and  I  were  man  and  wife.  Did  you  ever  hear 
of  such  a  thing  ?  "  The  lady  changed  countenance, 
turned  pale,  made  no  reply,  but  "  with  her  eyes 
made  answer  for  her  tongue."  She  never  forgave 
Fox  for  his  repudiation  of  her  marriage,  and 
asked  her  husband  to  disavow  him.  George,  in 
his  cowardly  duplicity,  appealed  to  Grey  to  satisfy 
her,  but  he  would  not  be  connected  with  the  mat- 
ter. The  public  was  with  her  in  its  sympathy. 
The  day  after  Fox's  speech  the  knocker  of  her 
door  was  never  still  during  the  whole  day.  Her 
royal  husband  made  a  confidante  of  his  mother, 
and  begged  that  his  wife  be  received  at  Court. 
But  this  could  not  be,  so  dishonesty  and  dupli- 
city had  to  be  carried  on  to  the  end.  Respect 
was  paid  to  her  by  the  royal  family  generally. 
She  carried  herself  in  society  with  a  dignified 
assertion  of  the  rights  of  a  wife,  and  with  a  great 
self-respect  in  public  demeanor,  equally  opposed 
to  and  incompatible  with  the  character  of  a  mis- 


120         DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

tress.  The  certificate  of  her  marriage  was  depos- 
ited in  Coutts'  Bank,  and  there  remains.  There 
was  no  issue  from  the  union.  When  the  Prince 
was  married  to  Caroline  of  Brunswick  in  1795, — 
he  calling  for  a  glass  of  brandy  to  brace  him  on 
seeing  his  bride,  —  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  was  intensely 
distressed,  as  it  affected  her  reputation  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world.  As  a  sort  of  challenge,  she  threw 
open  house,  and  all  society  was  on  her  side.  The 
Duke  of  York  was  very  friendly,  but  the  light-of- 
heart  Prince  was  faithful  to  neither  his  Court 
nor  his  real  wife,  for  many  were  his  amours.  Mrs. 
Crouch,  Lady  Hertford,  and  Lady  Jersey  were  in 
turn  his  favorites.  His  Queen,  Caroline,  was  not 
of  a  character  to  lead  him  into  paths  of  virtue. 
Miss  Berry  described  her  in  1809  as  "an  over- 
dressed, bare-bosomed,  painted,  eye-browed  figure. 
She  has  not  a  grain  of  common-sense,  not  an 
ounce  of  ballast  to  prevent  high  spirits,  and  a 
coarse  mind  without  any  degree  of  moral  taste." 
She  was  accused  of  indulging  in  "  the  double- 
pillowed  morn,"  but  made  solemn  denial  of  crime 
before  the  House  of  Lords.  Speaking  of  her, 
Mary  Lamb  said,  "  They  talk  about  the  Queen's 


SWEET    LASS    OF    RICHMOND    HILL.  121 

innocence ;  I  should  not  think  the  better  of  her 
if  I  was  sure  she  was  what  is  called  innocent." 
This  is  wise  judgment.  Real  innocence  is  a  mat- 
ter of  the  thought  and  heart,  and  not  of  actions. 
After  his  separation  from  his  consort  the  Prince 
wished  to  renew  his  relations  with  Mrs.  Fitzher- 
bert.  She  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Pope  to  find 
out  her  status.  A  dispensation  was  granted,  and 
they  lived  together  again.  She  had  a  stronger 
hold  over  the  Regent  than  any  of  the  other  ob- 
jects of  his  admiration,  and  he  always  paid  her 
the  respect  her  conduct  commanded.  She  was 
as  faithful  and  honorable  a  woman  as  ever  a 
prince  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  attached  to, 
and  this  not  by  interestedness  or  ambition,  but  out 
of  simple  fidelity ;  a  fidelity  which  was  met  with 
faithlessness.  The  Prince,  now  the  King,  be- 
stowed his  favors  elsewhere.  Lady  Jersey,  eldest 
daughter  of  Lady  Westmoreland,  and  inheritor 
of  her  vast  fortune,  soothed  his  later  years,  —  that 
lady  whom  Byron  describes  enthusiastically  with, 

"  Each  glance  that  wins  us,  and  the  life  that  throws 
A  spell  which  will  not  let  our  looks  repose, 
But  turn  to  gaze  again,  and  find  anew 
Some  charm  that  well  rewards  another  view." 


122  DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

Mrs.  Fitzherbert  went  on  her  way  steadfastly, 
not  uttering  complaint,  though  Peter  Pindar  put 
into  her  mouth  the  lines  — 

"  Too  long  have  I  acted  the  Dove ; 

I  will  soon  play  the  part  of  the  viper : 
I  will  rant  like  the  mistress  of  Jove ; 

I  shall  dance,  and  the  King  pay  the  Piper." 

At  the  time  he  was  near  his  death,  in  1830,  she 
addressed  to  him  an  affectionate  letter,  tendering 
her  services.  The  King  seized  it  with  eagerness 
and  placed  it  under  his  pillow,  but  sent  no  reply. 
By  his  own  wish  her  miniature  portrait,  taken  in 
early  life,  set  round  with  brilliants,  was  buried 
with  him,  reposing  on  the  scar  made  by  his  early 
foolish  attempt  at  romantic  suicide. 

How  varying  the  accounts  of  this  monarch's 
life !  Praise  and  panegyric  were  written  with 
great  fulness.  Hear  what  Wraxall  says :  "  In  him 
are  really  blended  the  majesty  of  Louis  XIV., 
with  the  amenity  of  Charles  II.  George  III. 
was  altogether  destitute  of  these  endowments. 
George  IV.  is  the  finest  model  of  grace,  dig- 
nity, ease,  and  affability  which  the  world  has 
ever  beheld  in  the  same  person." 


SWEET    LASS    OF    RICHMOND    HILL.  1 23 

What  a  sermon  Thackeray  preached  from  this 
text !  How  he  impaled  the  gilded  butterfly ! 
The  most  eloquent  publication  of  his  intrigues 
and  character  was  the  fact  of  his  great  wardrobe, 
left  at  his  death,  and  the  contents  discovered  of 
his  boxes  and  trunks.  All  coats  for  fifty  years 
were  there.  Three  hundred  whips,  five  hundred 
pocket-books,  in  which  were  found  ,£10,000,  trink- 
ets and  trash  in  profusion,  —  for  he  never  gave 
anything  away.  There  was  a  prodigious  quantity 
of  ladies'  hair,  all  colors  and  lengths,  some  locks 
with  powder  and  pomatum  still  sticking  to  them, 
and  with  these  were  heaps  of  women's  gloves. 
How  eloquent  indeed  of  his  lack  of  principle ! 
Is  there  any  character  in  society  more  despicable 
than  a  male  flirt? 

Mrs.  Fitzherbert  died  at  Brighton  in  her  eighty- 
first  year.  She  was  an  affectionate  woman.  Her 
abilities  were  not  shining,  nor  her  charms  daz- 
zling, but  her  manners  were  most  engaging.  The 
pathos  and  pity  of  her  life  was  that  she  bestowed 
the  rich  values  of  her  years  upon  him  who  was 
so  unworthy  of  them.  George  was  never  gen- 
erous   to    her,    either    in    providing    or    in    his 


124  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

confidence,  for  he  was  fearful  —  though  she 
threatened  not  —  she  would  make  use  of  some 
of  the  documents  in  her  possession  to  annoy  or 
injure  him. 

Gainsborough  painted  two  very  attractive  por- 
traits of  Mrs.  Fitzherbert.  The  one  by  Cosway 
is  but  a  part  of  a  full-length  figure  seated  on  a 
garden  bench  with  a  book  in  her  hand.  The  minia- 
turist had  great  facility  in  his  work,  completing  a 
portrait  in  a  couple  of  sittings  of  two  hours  each. 
He  was  the  first  among  the  artists  to  indulge  in 
the  latter-day  vogue  of  making  his  studio  a  rest- 
ing-place for  bric-a-brac,  for  beautiful  objects  of 
art,  and  lovely  draperies.  His  was  an  elegant 
art,  and  he  recognized  the  value  to  it  of  an  envi- 
ronment redolent  of  taste,  culture,  and  elegance. 


The  Percys  have  always  been  a  haughty  fam- 
ily, incontinently  proud  of  their  pedigree  and 
position.  Lady  Charlotte  Percy,  daughter  of 
Lord  Algernon  Percy,  afterwards  first  Earl  of 
Beverly,  was  no  exception  to  others  of  her  fam- 
ily: she  was  haughty;  and  yet  with  her  patri- 
cian sentiments  was  blended  sweetness  of  mien, 
with  her  hauteur  and  majesty  was  merged  a  mel- 
low suavity  of  manner.  She  had  no  important 
influence  on  the  affairs  of  her  time  other  than 
the  invaluable  import  of  an  honorable  career,  of 
a  well-poised  character,  with  its  emphatic  denote- 
ments of  all  that  tends  to  conserve  refinement  and 
culture.     Her  father  was  the  second  son  of  Hugh, 


128  DAMES    OF    HIGH    DEGREE. 

first  Duke  of  Northumberland  of  the  present 
creation  ;  and  her  brother  George  lived  to  succeed 
to  the  Ducal  title  quite  at  the  end  of  his  long  life, 
being  fifth  of  the  line.  She  was  therefore  aunt 
to  the  present  Duke  of  Northumberland.  The 
first  Duke,  Sir  Hugh  Smithson,  had  attained  to 
his  title  through  marrying  the  heiress  of  the 
Percys  and  being  raised  to  the  dignity. 

Sir  Nathaniel  Wraxall  in  his  Memoirs  gives 
an  extended  account  of  the  rise  and  of  the  various 
fortunate  connections  made  by  his  family.  His 
eldest  son,  Earl  Percy,  married  Lady  Anne  Stuart, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Bute.  The  union  was 
not  happy  and  was  without  issue.  The  second 
son,  Lord  Algernon,  a  delicate  youth,  travelling 
in  the  south  of  France  for  his  health,  met  at  Aix 
in  Provence,  in  1774,  Isabella  Susanna,  second 
daughter  of  Peter  Burrell,  Esq.  They  became 
betrothed,  and  in  the  following  year  were  married. 
Lady  Charlotte  was  the  first  issue  of  this  mar- 
riage, her  grandmother,  the  Duchess,  dying  a 
few  months  after  this.  She  had  been  a  woman 
of  much  force,  was  sensible  and  good-natured. 
She  liked  display  and  magnificence.     The  blood 


THE  COUNTESS  OF  ASHBURNHAM.      1 29 

of  all  the  Percys  and  Seymours  swelled  in  her 
veins  and  in  her  fancy.  When  her  husband  was 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  she  revelled  in  cere- 
monies, crowds,  and  show.  From  her  Lady  Char- 
lotte inherited  much  of  her  character  and  tastes. 
The  sisters  of  her  mother  made  good  connections 
by  marriage ;  the  youngest  wedded  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton,  and  after  his  death  was  united  to  the 
Marquis  of  Exeter.  In  1779,  Earl  Percy  secured 
a  divorce  from  his  Countess,  and  then  married  a 
sister  of  his  brother's  wife.  The  father  of  these 
amiable  ladies  was  first  knighted  and  then  raised 
to  the  rank  of  British  Peer  in  1796  with  the  title 
of  Lord  Gvvydir;  his  son-in-law,  Lord  Algernon 
Percy,  had  been  elevated  to  the  earldom  of  Bev- 
erly by  Pitt  in  1790. 

Lady  Charlotte  had  become  a  lovely  and  win- 
some lady.  Her  portrait  by  Hoppner,  done 
in  his  best  period,  was  painted  in  1 794,  and 
has  become  one  of  this  painters  most  famous 
works.  It  was  engraved  by  Charles  Wilkin  and 
was  issued  in  the  series  of  plates  entitled,  "  A 
Select  Series  of  Ladies  of  Rank  and  Fashion." 
The  painter  had  the  reputation  of  investing  his 

9 


130         DAMES  OF  HIGH  DEGREE. 

sitters  with  an  ideal  grace  and  beauty  without 
losing  likeness  or  character.  He  had  a  plausible 
brush,  yet  his  art  was  not  akin  to  the  emascu- 
lated style  of  thirty  years  later.  In  none  of  his 
subjects  were  elements  of  his  style  so  marked  as 
in  Lady  Charlotte.  In  her  was  graciousness 
allied  with  high-bred  dignity  ;  and  this  was  the 
most  marked  characteristic  of  his  manner.  In 
1795,  Lady  Charlotte  became  the  second  wife  of 
George,  Viscount  St.  Asaph,  only  son  of  John, 
Earl  of  Ashburnham.  This  nobleman  was  born 
in  1760,  and  married  in  1784  Lady  Sophia 
Thynne,  third  daughter  of  the  first  Marquis  of 
Bath.  She  was  a  beautiful  lady,  as  is  seen  in  the 
picture  of  her  by  Reynolds,  where  she  is  por- 
trayed with  a  lovely  child.  She  died  in  1791, 
leaving  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  Charlotte,  Vis- 
countess St.  Asaph,  became  the  mother  of  six 
sons  and  seven  daughters.  Her  fourth  daughter, 
Jane  Henrietta,  married  in  1836  Admiral  Charles 
H.  Swinburne;  and  their  son  is  Algernon  Charles 
Swinburne  the  poet,  "great  by  fame  and  force 
of  song."  Lord  St.  Asaph  became  third  Earl  of 
Ashburnham   on   his  father's  death  in   18 12,  and 


THE  COUNTESS  OF  ASHBURNHAM. 


'3< 


died  in  1830.  His  eldest  son,  Bertram,  succeeded 
to  the  title  and  became  known  as  the  collector  of 
the  Ashburnham  manuscripts.  The  Countess 
Charlotte  lived  until  1862.  She  was  a  woman  of 
fine  presence  and  elevated  character,  and  had  the 
high  regard  of  all  those  with  whom  she  came  in 
contact.  Walpole  remarked  that  "  the  Percys 
were  more  remembered  for  having  lost  their 
heads  than  for  ever  having  had  a  head  that  was 
a  loss  to  lose."  Here  was  a  Percy  who  is  remem- 
bered by  her  finely  preserved  head  as  much  as 
by  having  had  a  fine  head  to  preserve. 


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